How to Groundloop your Taildragger

[private]

This link will be of interest to taildragger pilots

http://www.aviation.ca/content/view/907/118/

the http://www.aviation.ca site is a Canadian aviation site featuring news
and general aviation articles.

Blue skies to all.

[George Patterson]

private wrote:
> This link will be of interest to taildragger pilots

Thanks, but I already know how to do that. :-)

George Patterson
Why do men's hearts beat faster, knees get weak, throats become dry,
and they think irrationally when a woman wears leather clothing?
Because she smells like a new truck.

[John Larson]

Been there, done that, too ...

Does that go with the tail-wheel endorsement?

"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:u2hse.13932$ej1.7167@trndny09...
> private wrote:
>> This link will be of interest to taildragger pilots
>
> Thanks, but I already know how to do that. :-)
>
> George Patterson
> Why do men's hearts beat faster, knees get weak, throats become dry,
> and they think irrationally when a woman wears leather clothing?
> Because she smells like a new truck.

[George Patterson]

John Larson wrote:
>
> Does that go with the tail-wheel endorsement?

Don't think so -- I had lots of oral instruction, but my CFI didn't demonstrate.
He left it up to me to practice the maneuver for real. :-)

George Patterson
Why do men's hearts beat faster, knees get weak, throats become dry,
and they think irrationally when a woman wears leather clothing?
Because she smells like a new truck.

[Corky Scott]

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 15:39:06 GMT, George Patterson
> wrote:

>private wrote:
>> This link will be of interest to taildragger pilots
>
>Thanks, but I already know how to do that. :-)

Another war story: In Italy I read a story about a B-17 that landed on
a short muddy runway. It had no way to stop as the mud prevented any
braking action whatsoever, the brakes simply locked up and skidded the
tires as if on ice. As the end of the runway approached, the pilot,
in desperation, slammed on full right rudder while advancing the power
to the no. 1 and 2 engines at the same time. The bomber spun around
in it's tracks. As the tail spun the the front, the pilot pulled the
power on the 1 and 2 engines and went to full power on 3 and 4. Then
he pushed 1 and 2 back up to full power as the rotation stopped and
the airplane was aligned with the runway, but now facing in the
opposite direction.

Full power on all four engines for a few seconds produced enough
thrust to bring the slide to a stop, whereupon the pilot chopped power
to all the engines.

The pilot was enormously relieved that he'd avoided a catastrophic
crash off the end of the runway, and gave credit to god for the
amazingly dexterous handling of the four engined bomber. I felt that
the pilot was giving himself short shrift, I think it was his own
training and smarts that saved the bomber, himself and his crew.
After all, god didn't teach him to fly.

Corky Scott

[George Patterson]

Corky Scott wrote:
>
> Another war story:

Yet another; in England this time.

A B-17 pilot landed successfully but didn't get it stopped until after the last
turnoff. Rather than wait for a tug, he locked the left brake and ran the left
outer engine up to full power. That pulled the left wingtip around, shoving the
right wing backwards. Then he idled the left outer, locked the right brake, and
ran the right outer up to full power. He kept this up until he had backed the
plane up past the turnoff and got off the runway.

He said the mechanics hated it when pilots did this, since it didn't take long
to ruin the engines, but he got unofficial kudos from the base commander for
freeing up the runway rapidly.

George Patterson
Why do men's hearts beat faster, knees get weak, throats become dry,
and they think irrationally when a woman wears leather clothing?
Because she smells like a new truck.

[Corky Scott]

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 18:14:20 GMT, George Patterson
> wrote:

>He said the mechanics hated it when pilots did this, since it didn't take long
>to ruin the engines, but he got unofficial kudos from the base commander for
>freeing up the runway rapidly.

I've heard of this technique of backing up, and I can imagine that it
must have required a lot of power from the outer engine to get the
entire mass of the airplane to swing. So I can see where it would
burn out the engine in a hurry.

Corky Scott

[Dave Stadt]

"Corky Scott" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 15:39:06 GMT, George Patterson
> > wrote:
>
> >private wrote:
> >> This link will be of interest to taildragger pilots
> >
> >Thanks, but I already know how to do that. :-)
>
> Another war story: In Italy I read a story about a B-17 that landed on
> a short muddy runway. It had no way to stop as the mud prevented any
> braking action whatsoever, the brakes simply locked up and skidded the
> tires as if on ice. As the end of the runway approached, the pilot,
> in desperation, slammed on full right rudder while advancing the power
> to the no. 1 and 2 engines at the same time. The bomber spun around
> in it's tracks. As the tail spun the the front, the pilot pulled the
> power on the 1 and 2 engines and went to full power on 3 and 4. Then
> he pushed 1 and 2 back up to full power as the rotation stopped and
> the airplane was aligned with the runway, but now facing in the
> opposite direction.
>
> Full power on all four engines for a few seconds produced enough
> thrust to bring the slide to a stop, whereupon the pilot chopped power
> to all the engines.
>
> The pilot was enormously relieved that he'd avoided a catastrophic
> crash off the end of the runway, and gave credit to god for the
> amazingly dexterous handling of the four engined bomber. I felt that
> the pilot was giving himself short shrift, I think it was his own
> training and smarts that saved the bomber, himself and his crew.
> After all, god didn't teach him to fly.
>
> Corky Scott

Intentional ground loops have saved many a taildragger. At slow speed and
under control they at times serve a useful purpose.

[[email protected]]

I've heard of taildraggers being parked in their tiedowns by being
taxied in backward. The pilot gets a bit of speed, aims at the
tiedown, intentionally groundloops it, stopping the swing with opposite
brake as it lines up and the momentum originally built up drags the
airplane into the tiedown spot.
I don't have the nerve to try it.

Dan

[George Patterson]

wrote:
>
> I don't have the nerve to try it.

I wouldn't if I were you. I came into a grass strip with a bit of a float and
wound up with the trees at the end approaching a bit too fast. Braking action is
worse on grass than pavement. About 40' from the trees, I kicked right rudder
and locked the right brake. She spun around nicely; the wing dipped about
halfway to the ground, but nothing touched and everything was fine.

When I changed the tires a few years later, there was still grass trapped
between the left tire bead and the rim. I think that spinning it around at
enough speed to result in backwards motion would result in a flat.

George Patterson
Why do men's hearts beat faster, knees get weak, throats become dry,
and they think irrationally when a woman wears leather clothing?
Because she smells like a new truck.