"Bad Habits" of Nose Wheel Pilots

[Coyote Ugly]

One of the worst habits that nosewheel pilots have is... flying ugly planes.. ha ha.. Ok... I'll keep quiet now... Just could resist stirring the pot a bit..

[58Skylane]

One of the worst habits that nosewheel pilots have is... flying ugly planes.. ha ha.. Ok... I'll keep quiet now... Just could resist stirring the pot a bit..

Wow!

[qmdv]

One of the worst habits that nosewheel pilots have is... flying ugly planes.. ha ha.. Ok... I'll keep quiet now... Just could resist stirring the pot a bit..

Not sure I can get over tht one.
She looks good to me.

Tim

[Zzz]

^^ No fair using pretty girls to make the plane look better.

[qmdv]

Even on a flying site, nobodies eyes went to the plane. Without looking again you probably do not even know the color of the plane but you know her hair color.

Tim

[dirtstrip]

^^ No fair using pretty girls to make the plane look better.

My wife told me a secret usually kept just between girls. Always stand by something ugly or fat to make yourself look better. Almost like an accessory.

[avi8ter]

Not having toilet paper onboard. Not carrying a clean set of shorts.

[soyAnarchisto]

^^ No fair using pretty girls to make the plane look better.

I'm sorry - was there a plane in that pic?

'Greg

[qmdv]

^^ No fair using pretty girls to make the plane look better.

My wife told me a secret usually kept just between girls. Always stand by something ugly or fat to make yourself look better. Almost like an accessory.

You sayin I am ugly or fat.

I am reporting this post

Tim

[c170pete]

While trike flyers may get lazy with the pedals, you don't hear of many of them doing ground loops or other rollout related accidents. (Although I saw 182 in the weeds at JC a few years ago.) I think the stability of a tricycle is well worth the derision it generates.

tom

You're absolutely right. Taildraggers are an outmoded, unnecessary risk for 99% of pilots, myself included. But, like so many things in my life, I've chosen the more difficult, less rational path because of aesthetics...e.g. fly fishing, telemark skiing, linux.

I also still prefer (and use) cars with a gearshift. My truck has a 5 speed and window cranks.

[cessnaford]

So if I buy a nose picker, convert it to a ground looper, does the insurance company care? (I look at early cheap C-182 and dream of getting one converted. That way you know Fred Flinstone hasn't landed it in Rubble. )

[hotrod150]

So if I buy a nose picker, convert it to a ground looper, does the insurance company care? .....

Yes they do. I made sure (triple-checked) that the insurance companies knew it was a t/w conversion when I got quotes for my newly-acquired C150/150TD. AOPA had the best price, so I went with them. A week or so later, the agent called & confessed that they quoted a nosedragger, he bumped the price a little but absorbed most of it as it was their mistake. Renewal quote was substantially higher.

[hotrod150]

As a CFI who specializes in t-wheel and backcountry instruction a few "bad habits" immediately come to mind for nosepickers transitioning to taildraggers. The first is the bad habit of not holding the stick/yoke back all the time. ..........

I agree-- along with lazy rudder habits, lotsa nosewheelers have lazy elevator habits. I walk on my airport for exercise and see an amazing number of pilots who even after a nice approach basically just let the airplane plop down onto the ground in whatever pitch attitude it feels like. For a good landing in a taildragger (three-pointer or wheeler) you need precise speed & attitude control, but in a nosedragger you can often get away without much of either. It may not be required but it sure makes for a prettier landing when you pay attention though.

[Nosedragger]

I've developed a bad habit of paying less for airplane insurance than I do for my pickup and calmly delivering my whole family to the tarmac safely in stiff crosswinds.

[172heavy]

My IA says that a nose dragger can take off shorter than a tail dragger due to the fact that it can rotate further on takeoff, producing a higher angle of attack, due to the fact that the main gear is further back and a tail wheel cannot rotate any further than it already is.

[Zzz]

I've developed a bad habit of paying less for airplane insurance than I do for my pickup and calmly delivering my whole family to the tarmac safely in stiff crosswinds.

Sounds boring.

[Stickman]

My IA says that a nose dragger can take off shorter than a tail dragger due to the fact that it can rotate further on takeoff, producing a higher angle of attack, due to the fact that the main gear is further back and a tail wheel cannot rotate any further than it already is.

That may be true to some extent on pavement, however, in soft stuff that nose wheel will dig a nice furrow in the mud.

[qmdv]

My IA says that a nose dragger can take off shorter than a tail dragger due to the fact that it can rotate further on takeoff, producing a higher angle of attack, due to the fact that the main gear is further back and a tail wheel cannot rotate any further than it already is.

That may be true to some extent on pavement, however, in soft stuff that nose wheel will dig a nice furrow in the mud.

What percentage of your landing are in the mud? And why would you want to? I do not like landing in mud, walking in mud, working in mud, or camping in mud. My only interface with mud is cleaning up after grand kids and my good wife does most ot that.

My home strip is grass. When it is wet it is wet grass, not mud. When it quits being fun I quit. Mud is not fun.

Tim

[Nosedragger]

I've developed a bad habit of paying less for airplane insurance than I do for my pickup and calmly delivering my whole family to the tarmac safely in stiff crosswinds.

Sounds boring.

It is. If it weren't , Mrs. Nosedragger would see to it that my cross country trips be like George Thorogood's beer drinking.

I just remembered punking a taildragger in Bozeman as a student pilot flying an XP. The whiny taildragger pissed off the tower by going around and then begging for the backup runway. I got cleared behind a Boeing in a bad crosswind with the standard "caution wake turbulence" and "wind howling at __." I wrestled it to the ground in front of the smoke and got parked at Arlins just in time to get the last loaner- Arlins pickup, complete with rifles and deer horns in the back. Sure was a tasty prime rib at Sir Scott's. I hope the big tire guy had lots of quarters for the snack machine.

[GumpAir]

Mud is not fun.

REALLY???????????

Gump