Originally Posted by
foxmoth
HMM! I was told the Hornet was hard to land in a crosswind, also told the same with the Leopard and the Auster (amongst others), personally I have never had any problem with any of these, and for a crosswind I wheel them on - as long as you have the tail up you have rudder control, the trick is, that as soon as you reach full forward stick keeping the tail up you then make a positive control input to lower the tail and the moment it is on the ground you then put in full up elevator, I have even managed a Tiger Moth with skid on hard in a crosswind with this method, though you are virtually at a stop by the time the tail goes down on the Tiger!
I trained on Austers in 63, got a Tiger in 64, and continued tail dragging. I really can't recall doing any wheeekers apart from Chipmunks on a hard runway. It's never been necessary in quite a few thousand tailwheel hours.
I too was told the Hornet was difficult but didn't find it so by following the rules. The Cof G was behind the wheels (which were too far forward), the rudder was too small and always blanked by the fuselage, and the ailerons ineffective! Apart from that it was a delight, and oh the brakes were a pest! It was ground looped and badly damaged by a 10,000hr Tiger Moth pilot in very current flying practice on take off on a calm day. I repeat I never wheeled it on! There is a good reason why there are few Hornets around!!
I also recall that flying DC3s in the desert in Libya in the 60s we always three pointed them. When I flew one again in the 90s with Air Atlantique the practice was to wheel them on. Things change!