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→Other Questions: Add Why is piloting a tail wheel airplane so difficult? Section
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However, extremely long dogfights did take place. In one case, an SBD piloted by “Swede” Vejtasa fought three A6Ms for 17 minutes.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Long Odds |series=Dogfights |network=The History Channel |date=12 January 2007 |season=1 |number=10}}</ref> | However, extremely long dogfights did take place. In one case, an SBD piloted by “Swede” Vejtasa fought three A6Ms for 17 minutes.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Long Odds |series=Dogfights |network=The History Channel |date=12 January 2007 |season=1 |number=10}}</ref> | ||
=== Why is piloting a tail wheel airplane so difficult? === | |||
A tail wheel airplane, often called a taildragger or conventional landing gear, is an airplane where the centerline landing gear is positioned behind the two main landing gear located further outboard.{{efn|The tail wheel in a conventional landing gear configuration can be designed operate in one of four modes: | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
! Mode !! Description | |||
|- | |||
| Locked || Wheel remains fixed | |||
|- | |||
| Steerable || Wheel controlled by pilot | |||
|- | |||
| Steerable + Castering || Wheel controlled by pilot until outside of limits, then castering | |||
|- | |||
| Castering || Wheel rotates at will | |||
|} | |||
Note, however, that no aircraft uses all four and most aircraft only use two.}} | |||
There are two main reasons flying a tail wheel airplane is difficult: center of gravity and lack of visibility. | |||
The key to understanding the center of gravity issue is that on a tailwheel airplane it is located behind the main landing gear and that this can cause something called a "ground loop". | |||
A ground loop occurs when the nose and tail of the aircraft "swap ends" while taking off or landing.{{efn|In aviation, the word "loop" usually refers to an aerial maneuver performed in the vertical plane. Therefore, a "ground loop" should more correctly be called a "ground spin", as "spin" is the standard term for lateral rotation.}} In other words, the aircraft rotates 180 degrees (or more) so that its nose is no longer facing the direction of travel. If not immediately corrected, the aircraft will either go off the runway, have the landing gear fold under due to the side load, or both. The end result is, of course, serious damage to the aircraft. | |||
If a pilot were to stomp on the brakes in an airplane with a tailwheel, the remaining forward momentum would cause the tail to lift up until the airplane comes to a rest on its nose. In severe cases, it could even cause the airplane to flip over completely. This is the same force that causes a rider to go over the handlebars on their bicycle when they stop too fast. | |||
The main landing gear of a tail wheel airplane is longer than the tail wheel. This results in the plane having a nose high attitude on the ground. On airplanes with a large engine in front of the cockpit, the pilot's view forward is blocked. On the ground this can be somewhat mitigated by performing "S-turns" where the pilot swings the airplane from left to right and back again to gain a glimpse out of the side of the canopy to see the taxiway ahead. A similar technique, using a curved approach, can be employed when landing. However, neither of these is a perfect solution and require skill to be performed properly. | |||
For the reasons above, most modern aircraft use tricycle or nose landing gear configuration. This transition began during World War II and was apparently significant enough of an problem for pilots that the Army Air Force issued a technical order explaining the differences between the two different configurations.<ref>{{cite book |title=General: Operation and Technique of Nose Wheel Airplanes |date=19 April 1943 |publisher=Headquarters of the Army Air Forces, War Department |location=Washington |page=1-6 |url=http://app.aircorpslibrary.com/document/viewer/j14genjw34 |access-date=5 August 2024}}</ref>{{efn|This technical order is particularly interesting due to the very basic level of explanation and use of casual, non-technical language. It almost reads as though it was written for an amateur.}} | |||
== References == | == References == | ||