Tailwheel Training... Aeronca Champ

[Boss_BlueAngels]

On Monday I finally started flying regularlyl again!  I flew Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to work on my tailwheel endorsment so I can go out and have some REAL fun by myself.  

It's been quite exciting so far, having done 20 landings in about 3 hours.  I must say, those wheel landings are a bit freaky.  To help get me used to being on the mains, we did a high speed taxi down the runway up on the mains...  I'm slowly getting better at finessing the pedals, but it still makes me a bit nervous.

Everything else is coming right along with no problems, though.  I'm having nice, consistant 3-point landings, and my fourth (and final) wheel landing yesterday was actually really nice, as I touched down on the numbers, directly on the centerline.  It was a great way to finish up the flight.

My instructor wants me to get a bit more confident in my wheel landings, but thinks it'll be two more flights at the most for me.

I was very glad to hear that even after not flying for a year, everything else was really great.  Nice rudder coordination, slips looked great, good throttle/airspeed coordination, etc.  Partial thanks goes to "Stick and Rudder."  Amazing book, I try to read it once every couple of years.   Once I get the sign off I'm going to do some experimenting with some of the concepts in the book--just to experience it first hand.

After my experiences so far with the Champ, I certainly have a LOT more respect for those pilots who had nothing but tailwheel aircraft to learn on.  And also for modern technology!  We're sure spoiled, these days! lol

[beaky]

Not surprising that you are "stuck" exactly where I was when learning "conventional" gear methods in a Champ... the dreaded wheel landing, which is required in the syllabus but actually not often used by old hands, even in x-winds.

3-pointers seem just like with a nosewheel after you do a couple, but it's a big deal to shove the stick forward after you touch down... gotta break that trike conditioning.

You'll get over it- first good one you do solo, you'll wonder what you were so nervous about.

I'm sure you're not fishing for more Champ advice, but here's more...

If you bounce, wheel or 3-pointer, unless you have a really long runway to work with, go around! It's just not worth it. But if you have over 5000 feet or so, just