quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Aside from the tail dragger aspect (hard to see forward when taxiing for example) and the much lower stall speed, I would imagine that flys very much like a Cessna 150.

Take off and landing in a tail dragger is a whole different animal compared to a Cessna 150. It takes a lot more skill.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
A lot of of tailwheel airplanes have considerable slack in the rudder cables, requiring pressure on both rudder pedals all the time;

All of the 150s I flew seemed to require some pressure to hold the rudder. But that's because they were junk. I used to call the N number as 556Garbage instead of 556Golf. Hahaha! Soooo much fun though. Fun days, ages ago.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Aside from the tail dragger aspect (hard to see forward when taxiing for example) and the much lower stall speed, I would imagine that flys very much like a Cessna 150.

Take off and landing in a tail dragger is a whole different animal compared to a Cessna 150. It takes a lot more skill.

Yeah. That's why I said aside from the tail dragger aspect. And I gave an example. Once you're up though, it'd be similar.

I guess I never realized that a plane like a Cessna 150 was considered a STOL aircraft. The one I am familiar with from my Forest Service years on wildland fires is a DeHavilland Twin Otter. A bit more complicated than the Cessnas, its reversible pitch, fully feathering propellers enable it to take-off and land on a card table. Wish I could show you video of flying into and out of Mahoney Airstrip, on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Frank Church. Incredible airplane

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I guess I never realized that a plane like a Cessna 150 was considered a STOL aircraft. The one I am familiar with from my Forest Service years on wildland fires is a DeHavilland Twin Otter. A bit more complicated than the Cessnas, its reversible pitch, fully feathering propellers enable it to take-off and land on a card table. Wish I could show you video of flying into and out of Mahoney Airstrip, on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Frank Church. Incredible airplane

I flew on one of these with turbo props on floats. Took off in Lake Union and landed in Victoria....(Kenmore airlines) it was an awesome flight and plane.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Aside from the tail dragger aspect (hard to see forward when taxiing for example) and the much lower stall speed, I would imagine that flys very much like a Cessna 150.

Take off and landing in a tail dragger is a whole different animal compared to a Cessna 150. It takes a lot more skill.

Sorry Jimmy, gotta call BS here. One has to be a little more careful in some way, one is less likely to have problems in others, but it is nothing like a whole different animal, the Cessna 140 and Cessna 150 are very similar. There are differences, yes, but neither one requires a whole lot more skill than the other. Now, if you want to compare a Cessna 150 and a Pitts S-2B, things happen a lot faster and there is much less room for error. Of course the same is true when you compare a Cessna 150 and a Lear 23, or for that matter a Cessna 150 and a Grumman AA-1 Yankee.

Low tailwheel/rudder cable tension is typical on most older conventional gear (tailwheel) airplanes, and is not a function of age or "stretching," but of design. This is especially true of airplanes that use springs in the assembly or that use a secondary set of cables to the tailwheel or tailwheel mechanism. It's more true of those aircraft that use independent rudder pedals, as opposed to those using one pivoting bar with rudder pedal on each end. It's also very true of those airplanes that use rudder/ailerson interlinks or spring interlinks, in certain cases, because of the design.

I learned to fly in a J-3 cub on a gravel strip. Several of us would use it at one time. The traffic pattern was takeoff, clear the pecan trees and start a left turn. Traffic pattern altitude was 200'. Fly the pattern, land. Turn around, takeoff the opposite direction, clear the pecan trees, turn right, for a 200' pattern.

The J-3 has no flaps, so getting down past the pecan trees on final meant nose over and full rudder and full aileron for a slip, kicking it out in the flare. It was often windy and always turbulent, thanks to the trees. We flew the pattern with several airplanes in the pattern, landing and taking off in opposite directions at the same time. It was common to be landing under or over the opposite airplane, as required, and was done that way by design. We were there to learn to be ag pilots. Short field work and work close to and around other aircraft and obstacles, including under bridges and powerlines, was standard.

Pressing on the rudder pedals became so ingrained that it's an unconscious act today, even in turbojet aircraft where rudder pedals are seldom used. In long flying days in aircraft that use a lot of rudder, like the 802 in the mountains in wind, my knees get really painful any more from pressing and working the rudders.

Those who are really serious about minimal landing distances in airplanes like Cubs and Kitfoxes, etc, go with low-speed enhancements that range from stall fences on the wings to vortex generators to energize the airflow over the wing, preventing airflow separation at higher angles. They use additional flap angles and settings, droop ailerons, droop wingtips, slotted leading edges, cambered or drooped leading edges, pitched props, longer props, aileron spades, dedicated wheels and brakes, low pressure, oversize tires, etc. They tend to spend a lot of time landing off-airport, often on unprepared surfaces and soft or rough surfaces.

A series of popular videos were made years ago called Big Rocks and Long Props, mostly about flying a Maule and Superub in Idaho. Greg Miller posts his teasers on youtube.

https://youtu.be/MQkdtHM-w7I

https://youtu.be/jwcNHWqBCkU

https://youtu.be/AXg7a7a9vnA

And of course, Frank Knapp at the annual Valdez STOL fly-in:

https://youtu.be/Y7Jwde4EAVw