I continue to hit roadblocks getting my first flight in. For insurance reasons I'm not allowed to fly the first 5 hours as I have zero tailwheel experience. Fair enough. I did find someone with 1000s of hours in tailwheels and has experience with the Kitfox. He's known as a great pilot around here. That said, unfortunately he has zero experience with locking tailwheels - and has said it scares him. I'm not going to argue, I understand in the sense that taking a plane for it's first flight is probably enough - having an unfamiliar tailwheel setup is just adding unwanted variable. I still have the original steerable, so I'll swap it out for now.

That said, I'm looking for some advice as to how to talk to him about it to perhaps ease his concerns. I would like to learn on what I'll be flying and would hope that after the first few hours I could switch back for my training with him. His biggest concerns seem to be around cross wind landings and not having steerability one on the ground. From everything I've gathered it should be a non-starter. But I can't just say that as it doesn't mean much coming from someone with zero experience. From my taxi testing at higher speeds I do seem to maintain a bit of steerability when locked - but by no means could a drastic change of direction occur - but isn't that part of the point?!

Any input is much appreciated.