Crab,
That is interesting.
On your favorite aircraft...the SeaKing....could you look out the cockpit and see the forward landing gear?
I know for a fact you could not see the Tail Wheel from the Cockpit.
How did you "know" where the Tail Wheel "was" while doing this taxi training.
Better yet...how did you teach the Students where the Tail Wheel "was"?
Chinook pilots have a problem in learning that as none of the wheels can be seen from the Cockpit....much like most Boeing Airplanes extant.
So...I wonder....is it more an art than science when it comes to this "knowing where the wheels are" thing. Don't we develop a "feel" for the wheels through experience and in some cases the less artful among us never do develop that "feel"?