Starting to instruct tailwheel

[Douglas]

Before you sign up for your tailwheel training, ask yourself how much experience you'd want your CFI to have before you hand over your hard-earned cash to him.

I'm not pulling the wool over this guys eyes. He knows I don't have the my endorsement yet and that we have two tailwheel instructors who own tailwheels right here at the shop. He wants to go with me.

 

[jrh]

I don't know.

I'm sure it will be tight!

Before you go all the way to northern Iowa to rent a 140, feel free to sit in mine and make sure you fit. Seriously. I don't know how long your legs are, but it's bound to be really tight. I've flown with a few tall friends who could fit in the plane, but couldn't actually manipulate the controls once they had wedged themselves in.

I'm flying to the Crete pancake breakfast this Saturday morning. If you want to do some fun XC training with a student, fly over there and see me at the same time. Or next time you come through Lincoln, let me know and I'll let you in to my hangar.

 

[Inverted25]

I would try the c-140 out first. I'm 5'9 and I barely fit in the one I fly at our flight school.

 

[ryan1234]

Number one - Go Straight! The second you stop focusing on going straight is the instant the airplane will decide to go exploring.

So true! I wish I listened to that advice sometimes...... "hey, where did that trim handle go..... hey, wait a minute this isn't supposed to be a grass strip is it.. when did they put a hangar in the middle of the runway... oh ....."

 

[Nihon_Ni]

I have zero tail wheel time now, how much tail wheel time would it take before you would feel comfortable giving tail wheel instruction?

Before you sign up for your tailwheel training, ask yourself how much experience you'd want your CFI to have before you hand over your hard-earned cash to him.

I'm not pulling the wool over this guys eyes. He knows I don't have the my endorsement yet and that we have two tailwheel instructors who own tailwheels right here at the shop. He wants to go with me.

I didn't mean to imply that you were pulling the wool over anyone's eyes. I simply meant that instead of approaching the question from the perspective of a CFI; approach it from the perspective of the customer. Instead of asking, "How much time would it take before you would feel comfortable giving tail wheel instruction?" why not ask yourself, "When I go get my TW endorsement, how much TW time would I want my CFI to have?" My suggestion was just to say that you can probably answer your own question if you consider the other side of the issue. Don’t be the CFI that you wouldn’t hire for yourself, your wife, your son, etc.

FWIW, I got my TW endorsement last summer. I wouldn't recommend anyone come to me to get theirs, although I could legally provide the training. They guy who taught me has thousands of hours of TW time and has flown them all his life. He teaches acrobatics and upset training and is nationally recognized within those communities. That was enough experience for me to sign up with him, but I don't know exactly how much would be the minimum I would’ve accepted. If he had said his TW endorsement was less than 2 yrs old or had less than 200 hrs of TW time I probably would have looked elsewhere.

Personally, it would take me several hundred hours before I felt comfortable enough to teach TW endorsements. If I was going to provide TW training, I would probably need to either buy a TW airplane to fly around for a year or more, or get a job in a TW towing gliders or banners or something before I ever thought about teaching in one. That answer is based on my philosophy that CFIs should have a broad experience base. When I got my CFI I had about 800 hrs PIC with ~500 of that being cross-country. As I started teaching, I was able to draw from that experience to help my students understand how the different aspects of aviation fit together and why the skill we were working on during a particular lesson was important and how it fit into the bigger picture. I have “Never Again” examples from my own experience that I use to reinforce points. In contrast, I went to ATP for my MEI/CFII tickets and my instructor there also had about 800 hrs at the time, and he had been a full-time CFI for about 10 months. He knew the gouge and could recite the FAR chapter and verse, but he didn’t have the broad experience I had when I had 800 hours. He went to ER to study aviation then got hired by ATP upon graduation, but had never taken a pleasure flight in his life. All he knew was the flight instruction environment, which isn’t the same as the world a pilot faces after leaving the protection of his CFI and venturing out on his own with a wet ticket/endorsement in his pocket.

I guess that was a long-winded way of answering your original question: minimum of 2 yrs and 200 hrs TW experience.

 

[nosehair]

I got my initial endorsement after about 6 or 7 hours in a Citabria. Then I bought my 140. It took me a full 10 hours in my 140 before I was even good enough to solo it, let alone teach in it. It felt like I started all over again.

When I had 100+ hours in tailwheels, I tried to teach a guy how to fly his Piper Super Cruiser. I found out I had gotten in over my head when we went off-roading during a crosswind landing on our third flight together. I just didn't know the limits of the plane well enough.

I'd teach somebody in a C-140 without hesitation, but I also have 250+ hours in my plane now. I won't hop in a random tailwheel plane and start teaching the way I'll get in any tricycle gear plane and fire it up.

To emphasize this point: Different kinds of tailwheels land very differently. Get comfortable in the back seat with each one.

 

[Douglas]

Before you go all the way to northern Iowa to rent a 140, feel free to sit in mine and make sure you fit. Seriously. I don't know how long your legs are, but it's bound to be really tight. I've flown with a few tall friends who could fit in the plane, but couldn't actually manipulate the controls once they had wedged themselves in.

I'm flying to the Crete pancake breakfast this Saturday morning. If you want to do some fun XC training with a student, fly over there and see me at the same time. Or next time you come through Lincoln, let me know and I'll let you in to my hangar.

I appreciate it JRH. Crete sounds great but I already have plans (A couple pilots and me are taking the Bonanza to KC for BBQ...JACK STACKs!)
Though I will probably wind up in Lincoln, asking to sit in it. Thanks.

I would try the c-140 out first. I'm 5'9 and I barely fit in the one I fly at our flight school.

Noted and appreciated, I'm 6'5.

 

[Douglas]

I didn't mean to imply that you were pulling the wool over anyone's eyes. I simply meant that instead of approaching the question from the perspective of a CFI; approach it from the perspective of the customer. Instead of asking, "How much time would it take before you would feel comfortable giving tail wheel instruction?" why not ask yourself, "When I go get my TW endorsement, how much TW time would I want my CFI to have?" My suggestion was just to say that you can probably answer your own question if you consider the other side of the issue. Don’t be the CFI that you wouldn’t hire for yourself, your wife, your son, etc.

FWIW, I got my TW endorsement last summer. I wouldn't recommend anyone come to me to get theirs, although I could legally provide the training. They guy who taught me has thousands of hours of TW time and has flown them all his life. He teaches acrobatics and upset training and is nationally recognized within those communities. That was enough experience for me to sign up with him, but I don't know exactly how much would be the minimum I would’ve accepted. If he had said his TW endorsement was less than 2 yrs old or had less than 200 hrs of TW time I probably would have looked elsewhere.

Personally, it would take me several hundred hours before I felt comfortable enough to teach TW endorsements. If I was going to provide TW training, I would probably need to either buy a TW airplane to fly around for a year or more, or get a job in a TW towing gliders or banners or something before I ever thought about teaching in one. That answer is based on my philosophy that CFIs should have a broad experience base. When I got my CFI I had about 800 hrs PIC with ~500 of that being cross-country. As I started teaching, I was able to draw from that experience to help my students understand how the different aspects of aviation fit together and why the skill we were working on during a particular lesson was important and how it fit into the bigger picture. I have “Never Again” examples from my own experience that I use to reinforce points. In contrast, I went to ATP for my MEI/CFII tickets and my instructor there also had about 800 hrs at the time, and he had been a full-time CFI for about 10 months. He knew the gouge and could recite the FAR chapter and verse, but he didn’t have the broad experience I had when I had 800 hours. He went to ER to study aviation then got hired by ATP upon graduation, but had never taken a pleasure flight in his life. All he knew was the flight instruction environment, which isn’t the same as the world a pilot faces after leaving the protection of his CFI and venturing out on his own with a wet ticket/endorsement in his pocket.

I guess that was a long-winded way of answering your original question: minimum of 2 yrs and 200 hrs TW experience.

I appreciate the explanation, I jumped to the wrong conclusion.
My first step is to get the endorsement and after I get what is going on with TW, I may say "bunk this" until I get more tailwheel time. After I get it, I have a buddies Taylorcraft that I could fly to reevaluate my situation.