Originally Posted by
NazgulAir
At a typical tailwheel conversion course you spend no time away from the circuit, unless you pay extra for it.
I have a different opinion on this comment. I start all my taildragger students off with a flight to the practice area for some general handling exercises. The vast majority of light taildraggers are 1930/1940's designs and modern nosewheel trainers with balanced and relatively unresponsive controls and adverse yaw virtually eliminated, are not the best preparation to flying a cub/champ/C140 style of aircraft. I usually find that it takes an hour of airwork before the student can consistantly coordinate a turn and hold a consistant attitude and airspeed in the descent and glide. Going straight to the circuit will IMO be an exercise in frustration for both student and instructor and investing an hour in general handling will pay big dividends in learning taildragger takeoffs and landings.
I should also point out that fatal stall/spin accidents, particularly in the circuit are much more common in light taildraggers, therefore I demonstrate some scenarios where mishandling that a modern cessna or piper will let you get away with, can be deadly in this class of aircaft.