Three Top Tips for Tailwheels!
It’s nearly been two years since I've bought my aircraft, and I thought it might be worth sharing a few of my experiences and lessons learnt to other young or new buyers. To begin with, I decided to go the LAA route with Permit-to-Fly aircraft; and I bought a Taylor Monoplane (single-seat, conventional gear and open-cockpit). I considered several aircraft, including an Oakley Baby Lakes and also a Hatz CB-1 (very tempted by the Hatz) but selected for the Taylor Monoplane because of one factor...love at first sight!
It took me less than three seconds to decide that I really wanted to buy this aircraft, and I haven't regretted my decision, but I do wish that I had paid more attention to good advice that was so freely given, but so easily ignored. But then again, perhaps if I hadn't been so impatient, I wouldn't have learnt what I have about magnetos, propellers, combustion engines or the importance of the go-around!
The LAA members amongst you may recall reading recently about an aircraft accident at Sandtoft aerodrome in March last year, which is was the unfortunate result of my maiden flight. It’s still a bit embarrassing for me to admit, but overconfidence coupled with perhaps too much keenness led to bad decision-making and finished with me biting off more than I could chew. I learnt some hard lessons fast about aviation insurance and the cost of repairs; the biggest one is that I should really have agreed on a higher hull worth to avoid the worry of economical repair, and also the biggest cost of repairs is actually time. It took so long after the accident for my aircraft to be repaired that it actually undermined my flying confidence quite a bit, and I've only really recently found my courage to start flying her again.
I've learnt now what everyone told me before about learning to fly a Taylor Mono two years ago, but perhaps it sometimes takes experience to get wiser. But what is this mythical advice that I keep talking about?
1) When flying a single-seater, your first flight is also your first solo!
This might scare the Hell out of some people, but I don't think it should. Instead, when flying single-seaters the student should be instead more willing to learn to taxi first; taking time to find one's feet on the ground rather than on the first landing. This is really important for tricycle pilot's when getting to grips with conventional undercarriages, because let's be honest, does anyone notice the adverse yaw in a Cessna 150?
2) Tailwheels love grass runways!
I chose Sandtoft because the aerodrome was familiar to me, but I should have been more willing at the start to relocate to a better-suited airstrip. After the accident, I now fly the Taylor Monoplane out of a farm strip. The grass surface has a better braking effect than tarmac, which is especially important to prevent weather-cocking, and it’s a lot wider to accommodate the more hairy landings.
3) Wait for the weather!
I'm still getting to grips with piloting my craft, so I'm very choosy about wind and weather. This sometimes means looking at the windsock, and abandoning any hopes of flying which is disheartening, but more sensible than an early development of 'press-on-itis'. I've learnt to be patient, yet not too cautious.
My Taylor Monoplane has been absent from the LAA rally at Sywell for too long, and I hope to remedy this next year (2012). Also, I'd like to take this short moment to thank all the Taylor Monoplane owners who have replied to my letters asking for help with ignition when I had problems in that particular area.
Who would have thought G-INFO would be useful for something? 