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Thread: Learning to Fly... all over again...

  1. #11

    Default Re: Learning to Fly... all over again...

    I just received a package from Deb McBean last night... which was quite bad because I didn't go to sleep until I read everything cover to cover (these smileys crack me up).

    Anyway... this I know... I "used" to fly a ton and fortunately I had a decent amount of time in helos - so I'm used to rudder pedals... as opposed to flying a Piper 140 or Cessna 172 --- and I'm exaggerating here... but the pedals were an afterthought...

    But, being the realist I am... I'm going to go after the re-learning as if I know jack about it...

    The flight school I have my eye on has a 152, which is what I used to fly in college - the college club actually owned a 152 and it was cheap in those days. It was like sitting in a barcalounger (spelling?).

    Jet, you make a lot of great points and one of the decisions that I did make after a lot of research on the matter is that going trike FIRST is probably the quicker/smarter/cheaper decision... the beauty of this plane is that I can always change to tailwheel after I get a couple of years and confidence under my belt.

    I participated on a boat forum for many years re homebuilt boats and the one thing that I learned is that tastes are different and we'd all argue about who likes chocolate vs strawberry ice cream and there were good arguments for both...

    At the end of the day, the insurance industry prices a taildragger a lot more, and, it's hard to find instructors, and in the Northeast, grass strips are harder to find than out in the west it seems...

    If I learn on a 152, I think I can easily get into a an SLSA... without a lot of hassle...

    BTW... does anyone know the actual diff between the series 7 and an SLSA other than the SLSA is built in Idaho and not by the brave & talented souls in their workshops? I see subtle performance/weight specs... but I can't seem to pinpoint what is actually different? Other than perhaps one has an FM radio...

    This was written fast as I am now late for work... and thanks to Deb McBean, I didn't get much sleep

    take care, and I very much appreciate y'all's perspective on Kitfox life.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Slyfox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Learning to Fly... all over again...

    I own a tail wheel and a nose wheel airplane. When the weather is bad I fly the nose wheel, hands down this is a much more stable airplane. Ya I know the nose wheel airplane is an RV, it is heavier, more stable.

    The kitfox is tail wheel, it has given me trouble landing with a strong cross wind or unstable air. This is flying within 30min with each airplane with winds on a cross with 7 to 20gust. The kitfox was fun, but I only landed it on the sod and also into the wind. When winds ar that strong you can get away with cross runway landings because the landing speed is so slow. I even had people out on the flight line watching, I'm sure thinking I was an idiot for trying such a thing in a kitfox, even the tower was so concerned he was giving out wind reports all ove the place for me. I did just fine but like I said I landed cross runway and I had the stick and rudder moving all over the place to keep the airplane stable. Not for the week hearted or should I say the inexperieced.

    Now when I landed the RV in this stuff it was a non event and hardly and inputs to put it down the runway centerline. So my experience, even though they were different airplanes, is that tail wheel is a much more demanding aircraft in bad weather.

  3. #13
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    May 2009
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    Default Re: Learning to Fly... all over again...

    Andrew,

    The differences can be many to no difference at all. As I understand LSA, when the factory certifies its LSA, it is to a specific design - each one out the door is exactly to the spec with the possible exception of the paint scheme. A home built is subject to the whim of the builder and there are a lot of builder created options out there. I am on my second Model IV and among the mods I have are aluminum leading edges on the wings eliminating the upper false ribs. There are many other things I am doing as well. We often read the argument that two home built airplanes are never alike, so comparing climb, cruise or other performance characteristics are really impossible except for general similarities.

    To another question on this thread - I am quite convinced that a tail wheel airplane has an aesthetic appeal that can't be duplicated in a nose wheel airplane. Just try to imagine a P-51D with a nose wheel - it just doesn't work. I have also seen some Kitfoxes, John Roger's, in Idaho, for example, that just wouldn't work nose wheel. This is a subjective opinion, of course.

    There are lots of reasons to choose both, but I struggle with the fear factor. I understand insurance, training and lots of other reasons to choose one over the other, but for some reason, I like to think I am capable of overcoming certain challenges. While I was helping my neighbor build his Lancair IV, there were a lot of folks killed in them during our build time. I was telling people that I wouldn't fly with him until he had three years in it. Then Brad was checked out in his IV. He learned that it took much more attention to the check lists when in critical flight modes - Altitude in the pattern and the airpseeds. These are never violated, if his altitude and airpseed is not precisely by by the book, he does a go around - always. 100 kts over the fence is not something to trifle with. His airplane is definitely not your typical Cessna or Aercoupe. A tail wheel as well needs a bit more pilot attention and how many times do we get into trouble when we correct at the last minute for a lazy approach

    I have also wondered at times how I would react to flying the different configurations. I hava a Mac and a PC. They are enough different that I sometimes go the wrong way when first logged on. Having a bit of a challenge in a Kitfox right after some time in an RV makes a lot of sense to me, but for the bulk of us that put all of our hours in our Kitfoxes, I can't imagine not becoming familiar with it's tendencies.

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