Taildragging
Hi Althevet,
A little word of caution.
I learned to fly in 1960 at a time when we were all taildragger pilots, although then it was called flying an aircraft with a 'conventional undercarriage'. (You were thought posh if you flew a tricycle in those days). This was followed by many years when, for various reasons, I couldn't fly at all.
Then in 2005 I resumed flying and, after renewing my PPL, I decided I wanted to go back onto taildraggers. I then learned the hard way that the quality of taildragger training available had become, shall we say, 'variable'.
To be a competent taildragger pilot, you need to be taught two ways of landing the aircraft; the 'three point' landing and the 'wheeler' or 'roller' landing. The wheeler landing is especially valuable for cross-wind landings and especially in a strong wind.
Nowadays, they seem to teach you to land cross-wind by stalling in on one main and the tailwheel. This works fine in a light cross-wind, but if the wind is strong or gusty then you definitely need the wheeler landing technique. I did ask to do wheelers with my instructor, but he said "no, do it this way" and insisted I stick to the stalling-in method.
Not long afterwards, when landing in a strong crosswind by the stalling-in method, I ground-looped the aircraft. I am certain that if I had been using the wheeler landing technique, this would never have happened. Perhaps this sort of thing may be one reason why taildraggers have now acquired such a reputation for ground-looping, which they never had years ago.
By how many different means can the 3-point vs wheeler debate for crosswind landings rear its head?
You'll find highly experienced taildragger pilots arguing for both as the 'only' way to handle a major crosswind. I am sure it depends on the aircraft and the pilot. There is no one right method.
The ultimate criterion which defines when a crosswind is unmanageable is when you run out of rudder and I don't see how 3-pointer vs wheeler can affect that. I generally use a 3-pointer for all crosswinds in the Cub.