Back to Taildraggers
I needed a change from the usual flying I was doing and I decided a change was in order. I had been doing some commercial training earlier this year and had the airplane in an attitude that had me wondering about my abilities to recover from an unusual attitude situation (maybe spinning or up-side down). I decided it was time to do some more work on aerobatics.
It’s been 7 years since I have flown a taildragger so my biggest concern was not necessarily recovering from a spin but being able to keep the plane on the centerline during takeoffs and landings. Plus, I would be flying a new plane for me: a Citabria.
I really did like the Citabria – it is much tighter fit than the Cessnas, Pipers and Tigers that I am used to but it felt good. The biggest difference was having my controls on opposite sides: power, mixture, carb heat, flaps are on the left and I use my right hand for stick. It may sound trivial but it was a little awkward at first. Another thing I had to get used to was paying attention to keeping the ball centered – I had to remind myself to “step on the ball”.
On takeoff we taxied down the runway practicing controlling the taildragger’s left/right movement. This is much tougher than it sounds if you have never flown a taildragger or if you have not flown one in seven years. We were a few hundred feet from the runway’s end before my instructor finally said “go full power”!
Spins were a lot of fun in this plane especially with it overhead view. What was different from past spins I did was this was much more controlled. Before, I was taught spins so as to recognize what to do in case I got myself into one. In these exercises we set an entry heading and worked on recovering to that specific heading.
