How the heck do you taxi, takeoff and land tail draggers?

 

For the first time I tried the default FSX DC-3. Running through the checklist, firing it up (pretty engine sound though incredibly quiet (too quiet?)in the cabin btw), push back then ACK!!! I'm seeing mostly sky and a black flight dash. Even looking left'ish you still there is no way I can see the taxiway pavement. Huge wide runways not as big a problem but same goes for the med to small runway, have no clue where it is under the plane.

 

What do you guys do to see, cheat and go outside view?

 

Can barely see the Twotter in front of me.

 

Could pretend I'm 8 feet tall but that's kinda lame.

I have the same problem so  I just ask Alice.

lol

It is like that in real life too. You got to taxi by looking at both the sides with your peripheral vision. Or turn left and right to see the edge of the runway to make sure you are in the center.

In real life, you would turn the nose as you taxi so that you could see ahead of you and maintain the center line of the taxi way. At take off, you point the nose down the runway, keep an eye to the left or right edge of the runway, and when you gain sufficient speed, the tail will lift and you will have full view of the runway. DO NOT USE UP ELEVATOR. Let the tail lift of its own accord. Once you have sufficient speed and are at VR, then use up elevator.

 

Two extreme examples of the challenges faced by tail draggers and the machinations that pilots had to go through to get the plane to the runway and in the air were the famous F4U Corsair and the P-47 Thunderbolt (also known as the JUG). The cockpits were so far back from the engine nacelles, that the pilots had to do extreme turns in taxi to keep their path in view. The P-51 wasn't quite so bad.

 

EDIT: Having pedals and toe brakes help considerably in making taxing safe.

S-turns are a way of life when flying taildraggers. You just weave left to right as you move along, looking out the sides as you go to make sure you're on course and not about to run into something.

 

It's one of the endearing qualities of a taildragger

I use trackir so I just look up and over the dash...so to speak.

Try flying a J-3 with a passenger where you have their head blocking all the instruments and whatever forward view you have left.

 

As Tom explained, after a while you get used to looking at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions for visual references on and near the ground using your peripheral vision. S-turns on the ground are the norm to see ahead.

In reference to Toms mention of the WWII aircraft, I have seen some old videos of ground crewman riding out on the wing of some aircraft. Could that have been to help guide the pilot with hand signals? Or, . . . . just a stunt for the cameraman? It seems plausible if the taxiway being used was so narrow that zig zagging wasn't a option.

 

Mel

The old outside view in FSX comes in very handy (Shhhh, don't tell anyone that I'm an S turn wimp).

Hee hee, I have a special 'situp' camera view assigned in Ezdok for all my taildraggers. I just engage the view and it raises me up in the seat, just enough to see over the top of the

panel, simples... :wink:

Hee hee, I have a special 'situp' camera view assigned in Ezdok for all my taildraggers. I just engage the view and it raises me up in the seat, just enough to see over the top of the

 

panel, simples... :wink:

Exactly my solution, with Ezdok also! And it's not unrealistic, it just simulates sitting bolt upright, which is OK for a few minutes but wouldn't be comfortable for the entire flight.

S Bends yesh,

see below

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=SP80226CEEF3BF5672&v=7Y3v1-WMJS8#t=455s

Tom has laid it out pretty well.  All part of the fun and challenge of flying taildraggers.  I will differ with him on one point, though.  In many taildraggers, you do indeed want to feed in forward stick as you accelerate.  Do so gently so that the g-effect doesn't push you even further to the left, but it is much safer in most aircraft to rotate from a low angle of attack rather than let the plane take off at VR with a high angle of attack still.  In both the sim and real life, I begin feeding in forward stick as soon as I have enough air across the elevators to lift them.  Once level, it's much easier to track the runway until takeoff as well.  

 

I begin feeding in forward stick as soon as I have enough air across the elevators to lift them. Once level, it's much easier to track the runway until takeoff as well.

That's correct too. Most instructors will tell you to feed in a little forward stick in order to get the tail off the ground.