What have you flown so far?

[Mic]

You're right !

Usually "acrobaties aériennes" means evolutions done without any ... serious ! When a pilot do some evolution without authorization (no mention on the licence) or in a non authorized area ... and often on a non approved plane !

When it's done correctly, fully patented pilot, into a aerobatic mentioned area and with a aerobatic certified aircraft, it is called "voltige" in french.

[Frank N. O.]

DonYan: Haha, good one! I only know english, danish, swedish and german, sadly not much more than a few words in french, spanish and italian and that's only because they sound similar to the basic old european languages that are related to the ones I know. Did you guys/gals here know that it's way back from the times of knights that set why people in some countries drive on the left side, it's to show your weapon when meeting another night, to show if you're respectful or hostile. Sweden only changed to driving on the right in the late 60s.

I still haven't found out why stuck-wing pilots sit on the left and sling-wing pilots sit on the right 

Speaking of planes, I wonder how one does a crosswind landing in an Ercoupe with it's auto rudder function 

Frank

[Gulfstream Driver]

The Ercoupe is designed to land with a side load.  You come down final and land crabbed into the wind.

Stuck-wing are airplanes, sling wing are helicopters, i.e. the wings fly around the airframe.  Mike would know better, but I think helicopter pilots sit on the right side because that side has the forward moving blade.  Not sure why that's important, but that's what I've heard.

[fireflyr]

I don't know for sure on the V vs straight tail but I appreciate and like your sense of humor, so just wecome to the coop.

[Frank N. O.]

Thank You, Frank. I only heard "fixed wing" and "rotary wing" terms. Don´t know about Boeing V-22, could be "tilt wing" or "tilt rotor".  Also heard nothing more of NASA X-Wing research vehicle, nor it´s classification.

DonYan  the Blogg = my.opera.com/DonYan/ (go to Maule)

Well as Gulfstream explained then Stuck Wing is another version of the term Fixed Wing, I think it was Mike, the older of the two brothers that makes the comic and who flies helicopters for a living who first told me the term. He's also the one that said Sling Wing instead of Rotorcraft/helicopter. And a V-22 is normally called a tilt-rotor yes, although the blades are actually rigid like a propeller and not flexible like helicopter rotorblades but they probably thought tilt-propeller sounded funny, and they would be right hehe.
Earlier experimental planes that came before the V-22 actually did tilt the whole wing with the rotor/propellers on the end.

I just looked at your page, those are some nice Maule pictures, especially the ones that look like one that flies thrue a very low gate and then does a very fast climb right after, wow! I also seem to remember it was a Maule that was used in the start of the movie The Cannonball Run when Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise stop (land) in a small town square to get some beer, the title on the nose said "Maule M-5" and it did a climb-out from the narrow city-street at a similarly steep angle as in your photographs, sends chills down my spine everytime I see it, wild!

I must agree that also thought the Bonanza was a Beechcraft, I've even seen a V-tail in person here in DK, oh yeah that reminds me DonYan, I actually saw one of the few danish registered Maule's fly right over my head on the island a few weeks ago, I first thought it was a Cessna 172 or such but the engine didn't sound like it, much more strong sounding, and the tailplane wasn't as square as the Cessna's usually are, and when I looked it up online I found the very plane I'd seen and it was a Maule that's registered at a aviation photo company, which also explains why it was so low. First time I'd ever seen a Maule in person.

Frank

[Frank N. O.]

I must say DonYan, you are very good at writting posts that really makes one feel part of the events, very well-written and full of life 

I've seen the Maule site and read some of the history, and I must say I'm amazed at that plane. Also flying out of the hangar wow! No wonder if was used in the movie, here's a screenshot of that btw: http://outnow.ch/Media/Img/1981/CannonballRun/dvd-film.ws/12?w=720&h=405

It sounds like you really enjoy life to the fullest, but still has both firm on the ground so to speak (by that I mean you're wise), I'd prefer to stay in the skydiver plane also on the way down hehe. I saw on the Maule site that it has a negative flap setting, I wonder if that's to aid to descend fast, like the swiss Pilatus Porter PC-6 that can almost beat a skydiver back down to the ground after dropping them off, and I imagine after reading the other site that the Maule can probably descend just as fast 

And I can sadly agree on the dangers of road-traffic, people here are just going crazy and since I'm not a speed-enthusiast I can't really get much pleasure out of driving anymore since this country is just too small to be able to find a quiet place to drive, all roads, large and small have fast drivers on them, which is why I'm trying to go into aviation this year. Of course everything in life is dangerous, but in different ways and on different levels.

Frank

[Frank N. O.]

It's always a pleasure to hear aviation stories from the person who experienced it, and who also clearly enjoyed the experience 
I was wondering, does anyone here have an idea if there's a clear difference between landing a taildragger and a tricycle gear plane? I assume the touch-down point would be where the difference would be clearest but then again, maybe with all the differences from plane to plane, even of the same make and model, then maybe this question can't really be answered?

Frank

[Gulfstream Driver]

There's a significant difference in tail-draggers and trikes.  Think of a tail-dragger as a car going in reverse all the time and think about how unstable your car is.  Now imagine that your car in reverse has a castoring wheel for directional control.  The wheels that control which direction you're going always "want" to be in the front, so putting them in the back causes problems.  Also, when landing a tail-dragger, you have very little control over the airplane while the tail settles down.  This is why you need an endorsement to fly taildraggers.

[TheSoccerMom]

Good mental picture, there.     

I had an instructor compare ground control in taildraggers, to the difference between pushing a shopping cart forward (goes where you want), to the unwelcome results you get when you push it backwards (and knock over that 8-foot-high pyramid of oranges in the produce section).

It did help when we got in the airplane....  but, he was STILL screaming.....   

[fireflyr]

There's a significant difference in tail-draggers and trikes.  Think of a tail-dragger as a car going in reverse all the time and think about how unstable your car is.  Now imagine that your car in reverse has a castoring wheel for directional control.  The wheels that control which direction you're going always "want" to be in the front, so putting them in the back causes problems.  Also, when landing a tail-dragger, you have very little control over the airplane while the tail settles down.  This is why you need an endorsement to fly taildraggers.

  Hi Erik,
One little aside on the subject,
I teach tail dragger students how to wheel land the airplane in really bad crosswinds because the higher touchdown speed (with the tail in the air) gives you better directional control at speed rather than take the chance of floating along at stall speed just above the runway with very little command.   

[Gulfstream Driver]

There's a significant difference in tail-draggers and trikes.  Think of a tail-dragger as a car going in reverse all the time and think about how unstable your car is.  Now imagine that your car in reverse has a castoring wheel for directional control.  The wheels that control which direction you're going always "want" to be in the front, so putting them in the back causes problems.  Also, when landing a tail-dragger, you have very little control over the airplane while the tail settles down.  This is why you need an endorsement to fly taildraggers.

  Hi Erik,
One little aside on the subject,
I teach tail dragger students how to wheel land the airplane in really bad crosswinds because the higher touchdown speed (with the tail in the air) gives you better directional control at speed rather than take the chance of floating along at stall speed just above the runway with very little command.   

Good point.  I've got about 1.5 hrs in a Decathalon, but only for spin training.  I wasn't allowed to land it.  So, I don't have an endorsement and am not really up on all the intracacies of landing tail wheels.   

[undatc]

Good point.  I've got about 1.5 hrs in a Decathlon, but only for spin training.  I wasn't allowed to land it.  So, I don't have an endorsement and am not really up on all the intracacies of landing tail wheels.   

Ahh our decathlons.   You know a guy crashed on last year, and prop struck the other one we had all within about 3 weeks of each other leaving only one left.  We were talking about picking up an extra 300, but I don't think UND would fork out the bucks for one.  And apparently I just heard that we canceled our order for two VLJ's.  Wonder why....

[Gulfstream Driver]

Good point.  I've got about 1.5 hrs in a Decathlon, but only for spin training.  I wasn't allowed to land it.  So, I don't have an endorsement and am not really up on all the intracacies of landing tail wheels.   

Ahh our decathlons.   You know a guy crashed on last year, and prop struck the other one we had all within about 3 weeks of each other leaving only one left.  We were talking about picking up an extra 300, but I don't think UND would fork out the bucks for one.  And apparently I just heard that we canceled our order for two VLJ's.  Wonder why....

The same guy did in both planes? 

[undatc]

no i think they were different guys, but all the same, lost 2 of our 3 within a month. 

[TheSoccerMom]

Tailwheel instruction is getting harder and harder to find, at least that is the situation in the northwest part of the country.  It seems that between the insurance requirements and the prevalence of nosewheel airplanes, it's just less and less common to see many taildraggers.  I know there are still strong pockets here and there, and I would guess Alaska would of course have more "than average", but I'm not up on the specifics.  It must be scarce in the east, too, as a high-time tailwheel guy I know here gets calls from people as far away as D.C. to ask for instruction when they buy some fancy, high performance pilot-ego-thumper. 

Jim (Fireflyr) mentioned the wheel landing as allowing more definite control in the touchdown phase;  that is always how it was taught to me, too.  The rule they hammer into you ("You gotta FLY the airplane right from the second you move out of the chocks") really is true.  It really IS "alive".   Tailwinds can get challenging, more so than in a nosewheel.  I think the most "interesting" landing I ever had in a large tailwheel was with a quartering tailwind, fairly strong, and not so much landing as "feeling through" that "no-man's-land" during the transition to get the tail down, and then feeling when to add in reverse because it was a short strip.  Yeah, reverse...  that adds some fun!!!      

I can honestly say I'm sure I've taken multiple years off the lives of several instructors in tailwheels.       I'm not happy they were each screaming to get out of the airplane, but, hey, aviation's supposed to be an adventure, right?  (Though, I may have boosted parachute sales, come to think of it.) 

If I could WISH for a nice little daydream, it would be to have something like a Citabria, or a Husky, and have ALL the good instructors I know show up to give me unlimited instruction.  I'm so rusty now that I'm not sure I could FIND the tailwheel, much less keep control of the little devil.       But, it DOES make you work, and makes you a much better pilot, in my humble opinion.  I always tell people to go get the endorsement, if they can.