No building this weekend.  However, there was a lot of aviation activity as  I spent all day Friday and Saturday flying a Super Cub!  At the end of the day on Saturday, I walked away with a fresh tailwheel endorsement in my logbook after a total of 7.3 hours of tailwheel time.

This is the Super Cub that I used for my tailwheel training. With those tundra tires, there's a lot of fun stuff you can do in this plane.

Not exactly high tech...the Super Cub's panel only has the basics.

I have to admit, I was nervous about flying a tailwheel airplane.  I was actually nervous about flying in general since I haven’t been flying much the last two years.  However, after a few minutes in the plane, I was starting to feel comfortable again.  

Due to the limited availability of tailwheel aircraft for instruction, I opted to use Promark Aviation Services in Burnet, TX (approximately 2 hours north of San Antonio).  We started on Friday morning, took off from Burnet, and flew towards Lake Buchanan and Llano.  Before crossing the lake, we turned north and headed for a section of the Colorado River.  When the river came into view, we dropped into the canyon and slowly flew along the river.  For basic air work, following the river sure beat doing S-turns over a road.

After following the river for a bit, we turned towards Llano and started doing landing after landing on their grass strip.  All of these landings were 3-pointers, and, after about an hour of pattern work, we taxied to the ramp and went inside for a cup of coffee.  After the break, we were back at it, but this time we worked on forced landings and engine out procedures.  This went on for another hour before we headed back to Burnet.

Once at Burnet, we made several landings on the grass between the runway and taxiway.  Then, we took another break for lunch. 

With full stomachs, the instructor and I headed back to the Super Cub and flew the pattern at Burnet.  This time we did a couple three pointers in the grass and then transitioned to the paved runway for some wheel landings.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed the wheel landings.   Searching for the ground in a two-point attitude seemed more comfortable to me than flaring and waiting for the ground.  However, landing on the mains, keeping the tail up with forward stick pressure, then pulling back to lower the tail when I could no longer keep the nose up, was challenging to coordinate.  Not to mention that I had to constantly steer with my feet throughout the whole process!

After a few of these, we taxied in and called it a day. 

On Saturday, we returned to Llano for some more work on their turf runway.  We started with three pointers, then some wheel landings were thrown in.  Also in the mix was some more emergency landings and some slips to land.  After an hour or so, we again taxied in for a short break.

After the break, the real fun began.  First, we headed into the hills, searching for small strip that basically amounted to nothing more than a clearing in a cattle pasture.  From the air, this strip seemed really short.  However, after landing, it turned out we needed less than half of it.  We did three landings on this strip and then headed back towards Burnet.

On the way to Burnet, we crossed Lake Buchanan and turned towards a small island for some off-field landings.  The landing area here isn’t really a runway or strip.  There is only a trail that has been created through repetitive landings.  The instructor did the first landing on the island in order to show me the best touchdown point and also demonstrate how you have to make a slight right turn immediately upon takeoff in order to avoid some trees at the end of the island.  Once we were in the air, the controls were handed back to me so that I could take a shot.  The first landing was ok, but bumpy.  The second approach was high and I opted to go around.  The third approach resulted in a great landing!

Finally, we headed back to Burnet where I made another landing in the turf between the runway and taxiway.  As I slowed the plane and turned onto the taxiway, the instructor told me to taxi to parking because we were done.  I was surprised that we were done so soon, but he assured me that I did a great job and was tailwheel capable!

Overall, I learned that tailwheel aircraft shouldn’t be considered scary or dangerous.  However, you do need to keep focus and use proper technique.  I now understand what it means when people say you have to continue flying a tailwheel airplane until the wheels are stopped.  I also think that I have finally figured out what those two pedals connected to the rudder are for.  In a tailwheel, constant rudder input and adjustments is a must.  As for whether or not I’m going to build my RV as a tailwheel or nosewheel…let’s just say that the title of this website, Ethan’s RV-7A, may need to have a single letter removed.