Well, since we are all sharing tail dragger stories, here is mine.
When I ordered my kit in 1997 it was the only choice. At the time I had
only ever flown sailplanes and I thought it would not be much different to
what I already knew... well I was wrong.
In the time I was building the Europa I got my private pilots rating, then
my instrument rating and logged about 600 hours, all on tri gear aircraft.
I reckon if I hadn't been doing all that flying then I would have finished
the Europa in 3 years instead of 5 but that's another story.
So... then it comes time for me to get ready to fly mine. I went and did a
bunch of training in a Citabira. I have to say that after about 6 hours I
was still wondering if I was ever going to get the hang of this tail wheel
stuff. I mean I was really getting worried that I had made a big mistake and
I was never going to figure it out. After about 10 hours I got the hang of
it, and then I managed to get 15 take off's with Andy Draper in the factory
mono which was very helpful.
I really did "sneak up" on flying my mono wheel and I freely admit that I
was about 100 hours into it before I got comfortable with it, but now I
don't really think about it too much.
As an interesting aside, I now land my Comanche better than I ever did, so I
think its true that stick and rudder with tail wheel experience improves
piloting skills.
Would I change now, I doubt it, it kinds fits like an old glove these days.
That's my 2 cents worth.
Paul - N378PJ
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