Originally Posted by
JammedStab
I have never heard of this before. Is there some sort of benefit to it?
It sounds like an incident waiting to happen.
It does have a benefit - taildraggers being directionally unstable mean you should be taxiing with stick back (at least with headwinds) to give maximum tail skid/wheel effectiveness. Trimming back will make that easier to hold.
Some people will teach that as a method to assist you taxiing (I personally don't).
Re aircraft staggering airborne at low speed being easily corrected, again a taildragger is a different kettle of fish. With low airspeed (and low rudder effectiveness) staggering into the air followed by nose down (and then another bounce and nose up and the stick jockey getting their movements out of sequence with the bounces) is a great way to get it yawing - when directionally unstable that yaw can progress into the classic tailwheel ground loop on take-off.
It is not that uncommon. Usually most runways don't have cars parked along them and normally a takeoff ground loop results in embarrasment and sometimes minor damage not injury to innocent bystanders.
Having cars parked close to the runway is another bit of the swiss cheese in this incident - that should've been a simple ground loop with no injury.