Aviation YouTuber Trent Palmer says far too many tailwheel airplanes get wrecked in ground loops because new pilots don't have the basic rudder and brake feel to keep them rolling straight on the runway. He's designed a tailwheel ground simulator to help impart that essential skill without risking expensive hardware.
I think the CG is too far forward compared to the average TW airplane making it too unstable. That coupled with a short arm from the pivot point (axle) to the tailwheel makes it way too sensitive. Also there are inertia factors at play here that are much different than a much heavier airplane. The concept is great. Just make it much larger with a less sensitive steering ratio and a comparable CG about the pivot point and it would be a killer training device (metaphorically speaking of course).
I disagree. I’d want the training device to be very, very tricky to operate!
This should make you much more sensitive than you need to be — which is brilliant.
The problem these days is the horrible state of flight instruction. I fly with a lot of guys mainly giving them check outs in homebuilts. Most of the newer pilots I fly with have no idea hoe to fly an airplane. They don’t teach things like attitude flying, power off approaches, trimming the airplane, full stalls to the break and other basic flying skills. Just flew with a friend checking him out in his new Kitfox. Low time pilot with a fresh TW endorsement. Took 14 hours to solo him. Spent half the time just doing basics that should have been taught in primary training. Most of the guys giving out two day TW endorsements are a joke but now the guy has a fresh TW endorsement and thinks he is ready to fly anything. Insurance is getting insane because of all the accidents. As for your training device it will give some basic skills and looks like fun. I can foresee getting e few together and having races. Thanks for reading my rant.
I can see your point. My thought was that this is so sensitive and lightweight that it will scare off some people. You can never get up to any real speed which is where the senses become really tense as the stakes are real. But it will sure develop basis left - right reactions. Tail wheel control has to become instinctual as the reaction is needed without thought and the amount of input changes rapidly with speed changes when significant aerodynamics are involved.
Blah, blah, blah… Fifty plus years ago, my tail wheel instruction consisted of three trips around the pattern as a checkout in an L-19 Bird Dog on retractable skis. I do agree, however, with the statement that pilots these days don’t know how to fly.
I wonder how much of the insurance on my Cessna 180 comes from all the accidents caused by poorly trained pilots. And I wonder who taught Palmer to jam the stick forward and then yank it back on takeoff… Sheesh…
Congratulations Trent. Great idea!
Too sensitive? Not sensitive enough? Does it feel like an airplane? None of this matters. It’s a great idea. Sensitivity can be adjusted as needed with a change in CG. I just like to see an idea that concentrates on developing the proper “feel” needed to successfully fly a taildragger. As we used to say, “learn to fly by the seat of your pants” and the rest will fall into place.
I volunteer in a program that allows young people to earn flying time. One of the program founders insisted that they learn on an uncontrolled grass strip in a taildragger with very little discussion of radios and instruments until the requisite skills are developed. Great success story.
There have been many “training aids” developed over the years to teach radio procedures, precision instrument flying, and navigation. However, the development of “feel” has been relegated to the “not so important” pile of skills needed to be a good pilot. Don’t get me started about stalls, spins, and aerobatics.
Teaching tailwheel for 50 years the most difficult skill for students to grasp is the push-push-push required to master the tailwheel. Most will instinctively push the rudder initially but not realize they need to add opposite rudder to prevent over correcting and once again adding a little of the original rudder to bring to center. Muscle memory a hard thing to teach. Extra sensitivity good and making variable even better. Best example of this is learning to fly a Robinson R-22, a “sensitive” helicopter. Learn in it and can fly anything. Think your tailwheel go-cart a better solution to bent metal and cracked composite.
A slick, modern update to the concept of the Breese Penguin, a WWI “pre-primary” flightless trainer. This could catch on.
Is there a nosewheel version of this?(tongue firmly stuck in cheek).
This is a great first iteration of a tailwheel simulator. At least getting the student muscle-memory on how a conventional gear aircraft will react vs a tricycle gear aircraft in a low threat environment is a win! Well done!
It wouldn’t be hard to modify his design to simulate nosewheel aircraft. Simply duplicate the structure aft of the seat, but mounted in front of the battery. With an extended nosegear strut, there would be a place for a couple of barbell plates to compensate for the pilot’s weight and move the CG to place the nosewheel on the ground instead. Even steering a nosewheel aircraft with the feet is not intuitively obvious to quite a few students.
It isn’t clear in Trent’s design if the pedals actuate brakes as well. That’s an additional complexity that also challenges ab-initio students, especially in castering nosewheel aircraft.
It isn’t clear in Trent’s design if the pedals actuate brakes as well.
The video stresses not only the actuation thereof, but the sensitivity as well.
This is, in my opinion, the best thing Trent Palmer has ever done…
Actually, if you freeze the video at 2:02, you get a clear view of the brake pedals on top of the rudder pedal. You can also see the hydraulic fluid resevoir and the master cylinder on the right hand pedal. The left is a little blocked. So, yeah, he’s included braking in the design. That is really important because when you land, lots of pilots nervously jam one of the brakes when they really just wanted rudder.
Kudos on what might well be a great training aid. While not a TW pilot, I had one training flight in a Aeronca Champ on a somewhat windy day. The crosswind was a serious factor and required inputs on both TO and LDG. The demo video was filmed between buildings so crosswinds may or may not have come into play. In the next iteration, I might suggest moving the TW just a bit further back and adding the “Tail/sail” for a bit more reality.
I vaguely remember doing something like this when I was 3 or 4 years old on my tricycle. It could be why I like nosewheel aircraft. If I ever have enough money to repair a taildragger I might just give it a try.
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