Kitfox..what a great airplane !

[catz631]

Chris,
I always start tail dragger students out on grass, if it is available. The airplane is more stable and tracks better. (better in a ground loop also) I find it easier on the student also as the plane is not as squirly as on pavement. With that said, you have to use what you have available.
I also look for mostly calm winds to start with so that the student can learn how the airplane flies without too much outside influence. That too ,may not be possible depending on where you live and the season.
I don't teach primary anymore ,just do flight reviews for friends mainly. Right now I am doing some fill in instruction for another guy on vacation.

Wannafly,
I too have the "fat tires" and love them. I carry 10 lbs of air pressure. When I first taxied out after installing them, I started laughing cause I was bouncing up and down on our grass runway and was only doing about 5 mph ! They are a hoot ! I am used to them now .They have been installed for a couple of years.
Dick

[carlisle]

Glad to hear that the consensus agrees with my current philosophy, ie start out easy and with the basics and work up the difficulty scale. Have never been of the 'sink or swim' school of teaching/thinking and every experience I've had personally would tend to support that with teaching of any kind. As a kid I had an aggressive instructor who could be downright mean and it darned near scared me away from the flying thing for good.

Here in South Dakota, the windless dry days are very few and far between so ideal conditions are pretty rare. If I can't control the weather I can at least control the landing surface/conditions and keep some fun in the equation without making it seem too easy. A little crosswind on grass is a lot more tolerable than on the pavement.

Chris

[Slyfox]

I have the same setup. I to wake up in the morning but my wife, the best person in the world, tells me to go fly and when I get back we will have breakfast. What a gal. 33 years and going strong. When I was doing the bass fishing thing in the morning and the kids where little, real little. I would go out and fish for an hour or so and return to have breakfast ready for me, yes she would pretty much have the return time to a tee. Sometimes I think we have this sychy thing between us and she just knows, you know what I mean. My wife, cheryl, is my sole mate, my friend, my lover. We are one. We are together pretty much 24/7, but she lets me do what I want, when I want, I do the same for her.

I to find that landing with those big tires takes a bit for the spin up, expecially on the wheel land, you better have the rudder control good. Many times I land and have to hit hard rudder one way or other to keep it centered, from the outside you would never know it, but man I mean I sometimes have to stomp full rudder to keep it straight. I'm sure if I wasn't on it the tail would pass me up.

Keep safe and have fun.

[HighWing]

I love this thread Thanks Dick for starting it. I have a couple of thoughts. I loved my Model IV. I am excited to be near flying again in another Model IV. A friend flew a Rans for a couple of years and after his first flight in his third Model IV, he called me immediately after his first flight. I could tell by his excitement that he was home again.

I learned in a Cessna 170-B on pavement. No one told me flying a tail dragger would be a challenge. Dumb me! I just thought this was flying an airplane. I really don't remember it being much of a challenge, but then I had nothing to compare it to. Then again, I didn't have any habits to unlearn. You should see me in a nose dragger. I have limited experience on grass, but do recognize the difference. A thought, though - maybe it would be wise not to tell the guy new to tailwheels what a challenge it is or at least how many hours it would take. I soloed at 17 hrs. and to this day don't really know if I was late or early to solo - I just enjoyed every minute.

Soul mate, best friend? I have one of those too. 24-7 - no. She is off to Sydney and will be home Thursday - that three or four times a month. Been married 30 years going on 15.

The factory? Real sorry to hear about your frustration, but for the total enjoyment, I would encourage you to try again, or at least look around for something used. With the mission of the Kitfox type, you won't find a more enjoyable airplane to fly.

Lowell