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  #18  
Old June 12th 06, 08:38 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Newbie Q: Blanik L-23 Landing

"There is an improved
tailwheel on the new L-23's that is fixed and does not caster"

Yep. The new L23 we just bought has. It's a goddamn pain in the back
lifting the tail up to turn the glider around. Having someone sit in
the front seat helps. The CuNim club in Alberta has an L-13 with a
fixed tailwheel and a Grob type removable taildolly which was all
properly engineered as a Limited Supplemental Type Certificate. It
would be nice to have something like that on our L-23. Probably a
little expensive though.

The funny thing is we never had any trouble with the tailwheels on the
L-13's we've had but one of our L-23 with a castoring tailwheel had
it's tailwheel broken. The tail slammed into the ground after the
glider came to a stop, nose down, with the wheelbrake full on.