Originally Posted by
piperboy84
It's not that difficult at all, the main things you have to remember are:
* When taxiing always do as you were trained for your PPL, position the control surfaces to climb into a headwind and dive away from a tailwind
Depends on whether the tailwind is stronger than the propwash. If it is, you need full forward stick when taxying downwind. If the propwash is stonger, full back stick will pin the tail down.
How can you tell which you need? If the tailwind is stronger than the propwash, on holding neutral elevator you'll feel through the stick that the elevator will want to go either full up or full down, blown by the wind. If the elevator is happy to trail in the slipstream when you hold it neutral, the propwash is stronger than the tailwind.
But of course, power changes (and perhaps gusts in the tailwind) can change things.
* Absolutley no drift and no crab on landing, hold it cross controlled (slipped) and aligned with final, land on the upwind wheel first if you have to.
Never had any problem crabbing taildraggers into cross wind landings. You can use either method. I preferred the crab. But of course the crab method assumes that by the time you touch down you will have removed the crab and gone to a 'slip' to remain aligned with the runway.
It's vital that you are looking as far down the runway as you can when you land. That way, any tendency to swing will be noticed immediately and appropriate rudder used to keep straight. But don't over-control the rudder or you'll get PIO in yaw. Just use 'enough'.
But FD is right - a good tailwheel instructor will cover all this and far more.