Initial Tailwheel CFI Checkout

Preparation

Show up with the tailwheel syllabus that you intend to use. Be fully prepared to discuss in detail:

  • Elements of Instability, why is a tailwheel aircraft less forgiving?
  • Torque, causes and management
  • Stick and rudder technique: adverse yaw, sight picture, and coordination

Note the following lessons do not represent an individual session / day, you will continue on the lesson until you have met the completion standard.

Lesson 1, Solid Foundations

We’ll start by perfecting, first 3 point, and then wheel landings from the back seat. I want to see a very good grasp on the sight picture and yaw, round out at 15’ perfectly aligned with the runway, etc - at any point in the flare you should be able to tell me how high you are off the ground. Of course, you can’t see anything so height can only be determined by your peripheral vision. Resist the urge to look over my shoulder, because it won’t work.

3 point landings are taught as follows:

  • Maintain pitch for 70, head up, feet awake
  • 15’ start a gentle round out to level, do not pitch down
  • If fast, let speed bleed off
  • Prior to touchdown, pitch up to 3 point attitude and hold
  • Wait for the ground to come to you
  • Pin the stick back, stay on the rudders, don’t relax!

Wheel landings are taught as follows:

  • Maintain pitch for 80, head up, feet awake
  • 15’ start a gentle round out to level, do not pitch down once in the flare
  • Keep yourself level, but in the air. Rest you arm on your leg and move the stick by pivoting on your knuckles, grabbing the stick with your entire hand means you’re pivoting at your shoulder, not enough fine control
  • Keep it flying, keep it flying..
  • Kiss the ground with mains, apply just enough forward stick to remain level, stay level with forward stick, aware that a gust of wind can energize the tail at the worst possible moment (the amount of forward pressure needed varies greatly with airframes)
  • Stay on the rudders and wait for the tail to get heavy, once coming down on it’s own, pin the stick back, don’t relax!

Completion Standard:

Accurately call out your height above the ground when asked (can be described in terms of being high or low, not specific values) Teach while demonstrating how to perform 3 point and wheel landings with decent accuracy, round out, alignment, and roll out

Lesson 2, Teaching Exercises

Just about every student that comes to you will have the same background, likely have flown feet on the ground, occasionally using the rudders as an afterthought chasing a little ball. The degree of rudder deficiency in a student will vary considerably though, so the first exercise is determine where they are in terms of proper coordination.

Airwork, Dutch Rolls, Drifting, Turning Stalls

You can get a decent grasp of someone’s rudder skills by evaluating how coordinated a climbing turn out is.. the silly little ball won’t help you here because you won’t be able to see it, so you have to be able to feel it; of course, being half a plane length behind the center of gravity will facilitate this observation greatly. In fact, if a student is really struggling with coordination, I’ll put them in the back seat and run through the following exercises.

Dutch Rolls

Dutch rolls are meant to demonstrate the effects of adverse yaw. First have the student pick a point on the horizon and roll without using rudders. The nose will shift opposite of the roll. Once they can perceive that, introduce rudders and have them roll while keeping the nose in the same place. I teach a student to think of themselves as the linkage between the stick and rudders, they move together. Dutch rolls are not meant to be a roller coaster ride, execute them very slowly.

Drifting

Drifting is an exercise in precision lateral control, literally moving sideways.. The practical application is in dealing with drift from a crosswind but they can be practiced at altitude. First, pick a point on the horizon and introduce roll with top rudder; keep the nose straight with rudder input and shift left and then right of the point with roll and appropriate rudder to keep the nose straight.

Turning Stalls

Otherwise known as the “Moose Stall” it’s the mostly likely real world stall scenario that you’ll find yourself in if you’re not careful. The scenario is typically, you’re looking at something on the ground while turning slowly and your focus shifts away from your pitch attitude. Unlike the overshooting runway skidding stall spin snap your Cirrus into oblivion, a turning stall has a slow, noticeable onset, first the roll gets mushy, then buffets as the air detaches and break. Have your student do a few of them taking note of how the roll authority degrades. If it’s not obvious to them, use a falling leaf stall.

Fast Taxi, Stutter Step

Fast Taxi exercises are necessary prior to any landing practice and are a great way to build rudder effectiveness. Rudders become more effective as you go faster and a student needs to be able to recognize that less input is required to have the same effect, the faster you go.

Start with a simple exercise, you control the throttle and stick and the student focuses only on the rudders. Have the student maintain the centerline at a speed low enough to where the tail doesn’t want to come up. If successful, progress to a faster speed, lifting the tail up. When you pull the power, pull it all back at once, this will simulate that gray area where steering is being shifted from the rudders to the tailwheel.

Once confident in going in a straight line, have the student stutter step (small oscillating rudder inputs) a few right of the centerline and then back, a few left and back, etc. Again start slow with the tail down and increase you speed to get the tail up, pull the power all at once. If a student can finesse the rudders in this exercise, they are ready to start 3 point landings.

Crosswinds

Crosswinds will be the trickiest part of any tailwheel endorsement, because they have to be taught once the student is proficient in wheel landings, and no earlier. I have a strict rule regarding signing a tailwheel endorsement: a student must be able to land it at least a 7 knot crosswind. Right around 7 knots is when actual crosswind technique is required to land safely. Also tailwheel checkouts for already endorsed pilots should be done in decent winds.

Crosswind landings are of course wheel landings with a few adjustments.

  • On short final roll roughly 5 to 10 degrees into the wind, top rudder, this is of course a side slip; precise application of rudder is to keep the nose parallel with the runway. This action minimizes weather veining by allowing the relative wind to take the path of least resistence, up over the wing and not into the side of the fuselage.
  • Keep the roll right to the ground, landing on one wheel. Hold that position until the leeward side of the wing stops flying and drops
  • Pin the stick back and into the wind to keep the windward wing down, be prepared to stutter step into the wind to avoid being pushed off the runway

This would never be ok on a checkride but I teach if the wind is very strong, line up on windward side of the centerline; as you lose lift and gain traction, you will drift onto the centerline.

Completion Standard:

Able to confidently teach all exercises.

Lesson 3, Common Mistakes

One important note on mistakes is that the only way to learn from your mistakes is to correct them yourself. In other words, let your students make mistakes and correct them, stay off the controls until things are reaching a point of no return.

Probably the most distracting / counterproductive thing you can do as a instructor is be up on the controls with the student all the time. If you feel it’s necessary to be on the controls with them to demonstrate something briefly, state it clearly “I’m on the controls with you but it is still your airplane” to ensure they are still flying. You’re the authority in the aircraft, if you’re up on the controls, they will assume you’re flying, let go, and learn nothing.

Of course, sometimes there isn’t enough time to discuss what is happening and you will have to intervene. This is what I call (and refer to as) “an intervention” and is almost always a stab of the rudder to straighten them out. They will feel you stab it and make the connection in their mind. I generally measure the progress of a student in the number of interventions, ie there should be less and less interventions as the student progresses.

Problem Student Freezes Up
“My Airplane” and go around, have them sit through a few more landings, they’re not ready. Don’t hesitate to jab their shoulder and yell “My Airplane” if they don’t respond, this is a dire situation that requires a suspension of civility
Problem Holds Tension in the Rudders
Always confirm yourself that the rudders are loose while saying “feet awake” if they’re not, state “loosen your feet up” while kicking the rudders. If that doesn’t work, raise your voice and repeat.
Problem Flaring too High (or Low)
Tell them to stop looking at the runway, a sudden jerk back on the stick is called “ground rush” the numbers are coming up too fast because they’re staring at them. Flaring too high is much more common, ensure they’re head up and waiting to round out at 15’ - shuttle stepping down to the runway will cause so many changes in airspeed / lift that it will make the landing far too difficult, go around.
Problem Jams the Stick Forward on Wheel Landings
First, you should always have your hand cupped in front of the stick to prevent it going too far forward. If the stick hits your hand, tell the student. Instead of thinking in terms of moving the stick forward have your student simply relax the pressure on touchdown and slowly work back in the correct amount of forward stick. In all likelihood they are getting too mechanical.
Problem Over Correction of Rudders
This is fairly common mistake, essentially they apply too much and then have to apply opposite rudder to counter; they apply too much opposite rudder and have to counter again, etc and you fish tail down the runway. Get them to ease off the rudder inputs, take smaller bites; if that doesn’t work go back and review fast taxi exercises.
Problem Relaxes on Rollout
Classic tricycle gear conditioning, once on the ground they relax and their mind wanders off; remind them that in tailwheel aircraft the heavy workload begins when you touch down; pin the stick back and stay on the rudders until you come to a complete stop.
Problem Approach is Less than Ideal but they Continue
Attempting to salvage a bad approach never ends well. I teach (for students) Second Bounce, Go Around which may seem excessive but it removes the ambiguity in a choice to go around; this helps condition their mind that going around is exercising good judgement and not some notion of failure. Recall the saying Full Power is the Great Erasure.
Problem Attempts to Turn Off on the Taxiway Way too Fast
I see this far more than I should and have never really understood the rush to get off the runway; the roll out is the most critical stage of flight in a tailwheel aircraft as the rudders fade and steering shifts to the tailwheel, the last thing you should be doing is trying to make a 90 degree turn. This is something that should addressed be long before it happens, on touchdown simply state take your time and slow down before turning off to get them conditioned to finish the roll out before turning. If they turn early anyway, take control, pull the power back to idle, roll the ailerons into the turn (to minimize the tipping tendency) and be ready with the inside brake to offset a ground loop.

Completion Standard:

Able to recognize and correct every problem listed above as I simulate them

Final Thoughts for an Endorsed Pilot

  • Maintain your minimums, generally stay out of anything above 10 knots until you’re have a 100 hours of tailwheel time
  • Endorsements don’t expire but skills set do, fly tailwheel regularly to maintain the skill set
  • Never commit to a landing / fly the airplane to the tiedown

Good portions of this content are credited to Zach Kneebush, a tailwheel scholar.