Intro to the world of taildragging

So yesterday was my introduction to flying a plane which drags its arse on the ground.....hence the name "Taildragger". They're much more difficult to handle on the ground that a typical Cessna. This is basically because the plane has a tendency to weather-cock into the wind like a big wind-vane, and also the tricycle landing gear configuration is inherently more stable.

My instructor is a guy called Edward Doerr. A very young and VERY dry guy who barely cracked a smile. I asked him when we made our introductions "So is it Ed or Edward" to which I got a sharp reply "Edward will do just fine thanks".....Hmmmmmm. Fair enough.


We did the walk-around and checked out the plane during pre-flight. A few little extras to look at versus the Cessna. And then we climbed in. I'm sitting in the front seat, and it has a very good view. I started the engine and Edward (I'm gonna call him Ed in my blog, screw it) taxied out. He gave me control and let me taxy the rest of the way, which I managed without any problems.

The weather was pretty crappy the first day of flying (on Friday) so we were buzzing through holes in the clouds and eventually climbed above them. When we reached the training area I was then shown some stalls....the usual power on and power off stalls and then shown how differently this plane handles versus the Cessna. We did some Dutch rolls, steep turns and a few other moves and then headed back to Livermore. Ed did the landing (it's apparently difficult in a taildragger) and I taxied us back to Attitude's hanger.

A good first intro into the plane. Next flight will be the start of the light aerobatics.