![]() ![]() Seven point harness in the Super Decathlon. Nose up 30 degrees, return elevator to neutral, and full right rudder and full right aileron! I couldn’t help it I let out a pretty loud “Woooo!” over the headsets. I didn’t really know that they were coming, however, Tim just said, “Now let’s try something a little different,” and then announced his control inputs. So that covered the rocking, now it’s on to the rolling (pun intended). It is in the spirit of continuing to learn and encouraging others to do the same that I have written this article about my experiences learning to fly a taildragger as I transitioned from flying a Piper Cherokee ![]() When my instructor Matt recently endorsed my logbook for high performance and tailwheel aircraft, he said that I should think of his signoff as an endorsement to keep learning on my own, and not the end of the process. So, 45 degrees, or just an eighth of its turning capacity, isn’t really all that steep), which then turned into wing-overs, and finally some Chandelles. Then we practiced some “steep turns” (As Tim put it, your airplane is capable of turning 360 degrees. We started small, with Tim re-educating me on the three main controls as used in aerobatic flight: Pitch moves the nose from your head to your toes, rudder wiggles the airplane from ear to ear, and the ailerons rock your shoulders up and down. Your other left.”)Įventually, we wiggled our way onto the runway, Tim had me push the throttle lever all the way forward, and off we went! We took off and climbed up into “the box,” getting ourselves enough altitude to maneuver directly over the airport without getting in anyone’s way. (Tim: “Move your hand left, left, come on now, look at your hand and move it the left. I was so dizzy with excitement to get that show on the road I couldn’t even find the volume knob. We hopped up, strapped in (ratcheting myself into the airplanes seven-point harness was an exhilarating experience, but feeling it in action while inverted is unimaginably more so), and Tim gave me a brief rundown on starting the “Super D” and working the radios. I enjoyed the push-and-release rudder input, as opposed to the “glue your foot to the pedal and hope your legs are long enough to turn the darn thing” technique I’ve learned flying nosewheel Cessnas and Pipers. I’m happy to say that isn’t true, and we taxied and landed with only slightly more effort than in a nosewheel. From the many different aircraft profiles I’ve written, I’ve gotten the idea that taildraggers are treacherous to taxi and so difficult to land they’re barely insurable. Obviously, I had never done any aerobatic maneuvers, but I had never been in a taildragger either. As he “kicked the tires,” I admired this beautiful little taildragger. He pulled the Decathlon out of its cozy hangar, wallpapered with airshow fliers, awards, certifications, newspaper clippings and various other aviation memorabilia. Taildraggers and My First Aerobatic Flight Excited really doesn’t do the butterflies in my stomach justice. Tim pulled in in his little car, and I was already halfway to the hangar door before he got his seatbelt off. I drove way faster than I should have and left way earlier than I needed to, which resulted in me sitting on the hood of my car, enjoying the serenity of an airport still asleep. Unfortunately, flying in the high desert in the middle of summer isn’t very comfortable, if you can get off the runway at all! (Density altitude can be a real drag sometimes) So, we rescheduled, and the day finally came. As we were packing up the camera gear, Tim said, “We should fly sometime!” I said, “How about right now?” Tim owns a Super Decathlon painted red and white a taildragger perfect for aerobatic training. By the end of my first aerobatic flight, I realized my hands were shaking too bad to un-ratchet and unhook myself from the 7-point harness.Ī few weeks ago, Bryan and I interviewed Tim Brill and his son, Matt, who are master aerobatic instructors based out of the Reno-Stead Airport (Tim is moving to the Silver Springs airport soon). ![]()
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