{"id":5018,"date":"2018-11-01T03:58:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T10:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=5018"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:52","slug":"217-the-tailwheel-drag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/217-the-tailwheel-drag\/","title":{"rendered":"#217 The Tailwheel Drag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written in October 2018<\/p>\n

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Some time ago I was wondering if the maneuvers we practice were sufficient to increase our proficiency.\u00a0 I realized that they were not.\u00a0 What could I do that was really difficult and which would increase my own skills?\u00a0 So, I invented the Tailwheel Drag.\u00a0 Let me describe it for you:<\/h3>\n

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The Tailwheel Drag is a maneuver in which the elevator is held back and kept there.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found that the best way to start this maneuver is from the start, preferably on a grass or dirt runway, the better to detect the pressure between the mains and the ground.\u00a0 Pitch is controlled with power alone and the tailwheel is kept on the ground.\u00a0 So, the aircraft proceeds down the runway with its tailwheel on the ground and it\u2019s mains off the ground.\u00a0 But if the mains get too far off the ground, the aircraft will be at a stalling angle of attack.\u00a0 The maneuver must be abandoned if a stall occurs or if the tail comes off the ground.\u00a0 The first time I tried this maneuver, it was virtually impossible.\u00a0 But gradually I\u2019m getting there, although I can\u2019t do the entire runway\u2026. Yet.<\/h3>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

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Practicing the Tailwheel Drag in the PA12.\u00a0 The mains are off the ground and the tailwheel is contacting the runway.\u00a0Pitch is controlled with power while the stick is fully back. (photo by Walt Lasecki).<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve found that most pilots have a tendency to forget about controlling all of the aircraft\u2019s attitudes when in a landing or takeoff configuration.\u00a0 They are just so busy controlling one attitude, that they just can\u2019t find the room in their noodle to worry about all of them.\u00a0 They should.\u00a0 It\u2019s important.\u00a0 I\u2019ve noticed this tendency on the part of one of my best students when she is turning on to the dirt alongside the paved runway at our home airport.\u00a0 She tends to forget about aileron and the resulting bank and simply depends on a skidding turn with rudder alone to get centered on the grass. \u201cTsk, tsk, tsk\u2026\u201d<\/h3>\n

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Like the Dutch Touch, The Tailwheel Drag is incredibly difficult.\u00a0 But mastery of it will create a pilot who is truly the master of the plane.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t that what we\u2019d all like to be?<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Happy Swooping! (and Dragging)<\/h3>\n

Brian<\/h1>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Like the Dutch Touch, The Tailwheel Drag is incredibly difficult.\u00a0 But mastery of it will create a pilot who is truly the master of the plane.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t that what we\u2019d all like to be?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,67,171,172,173,174],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}