Other Stuff-NEW!
Tail wheel or Nose wheel???
UPDATE!!! 11/10/2006-My fuselage is ordered, and the mystery answer to the question above has been solved...I'll be building a (drum roll, please...) TAILWHEEL!!
Start of my tailwheel training Tailwheel endorsed 5/18/2007!!
This question plagues me. So, I thought I'd write down my thoughts, and share them with you all to give me your comments, if you so desire.
I have a love of tail wheel airplanes. Always have. I guess I'm somewhat of a nostalgic person when it comes to aviation. The romance of the days of the tail dragger just tugs at me. However, I do not carry a tail wheel endorsement at this point in my flying career. Why not? Well, the answer is simple...no tail wheel airplanes close by to learn in. I was a week away from starting tail wheel training in Lincoln, when the Champ that was there was sold sight unseen to someone in Texas. That's as close as I've come so far, and was a good six years ago. I have flown a few tail wheel hours here and there, and even landed a couple of times. There are some new skill sets that must be developed to be a competent tail wheel pilot. Mainly, you MUST treat the rudder as your best friend. That shouldn't be too terribly hard for me to learn because from my Private Pilot training days with Mr. Larry Whitbeck as my instructor, it was ingrained in my head that I MUST have proper rudder skills if I wanted to become a professional pilot. The teachings of Larry has never left me, and has been further driven home by my current additional ratings instructor, Lee Moulic.
The nose wheel airplane is inherently more stable on the ground because the CG (center of gravity) is in FRONT of the main wheels, and has a strong tendency to remain traveling in its current direction unless turning forces to overcome the CG are introduced. This is the way the majority of airplanes are built today. As far as nose wheel RV's go, there has been a lot of discussion about these models flipping over if not properly flown in to the landing (especially on grass or unimproved strips). Some argue that it's pilot error, others say it's the design and fail limits of the nose wheel strut. That's an argument for another day, but I do plan to use grass runways, and hopefully base my airplane on a grass strip someday. The center of gravity in a tail wheel airplane is BEHIND the main wheels, and is always trying to get ahead of the wheels by swapping ends on the ground. The tail wheel requires the pilot "fly" the airplane from tie down to tie down. Directional control on the ground is different for tail draggers. I can't say it's hard, it's just a new skill to be mastered.
I originally set out to build a tail dragger RV-7, but recently started thinking that the "A" model (nose wheel) would be the better, more logical choice for me since I have no real tail wheel training. A few months have gone by with this bouncing around in my head, and I can honestly say that I never had these "bouncing" thoughts when I knew I was building a tail dragger. So, I started checking on the cost of each model. Strictly from a kit cost standpoint, the RV-7 is cheaper by about $800 to build. Insurance will be marginally higher, but from the estimates I've received from a friend of mine, it looks like it SHOULD only amount to about $200 difference if full hull coverage is purchased. Not a factor. Hangering, fuel cost, and other variables will not change between the models, so it came down to that $800. So, I checked on the average tail wheel endorsement checkout costs. Here in Illinois, there are only a few places to go to get this done, and the average cost if the average checkout time is used is about $600. So, from the first flight through the first year, it's a complete wash. The second year insurance will come down due to increased tail wheel time. What's all this mean??? I'm not sure, but it's been on my mind a lot lately.
Jack Holland's RV-7, McLean, IL
This is an RV-7A in Oklahoma (I think).