From: dickinso@bnlls1.nsls.bnl.gov (Tom Dickinson)
Subject: Re: Glider to Power Transition
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 22:11:04 GMT

 
Mark Milbourne in 1992Jan5.182554.316@eplrx7.es.duPont.com asks 
about transitioning from a pvt glider rating to power, 
specifically taildragger, so he can become a tow pilot with his 
club. 
 
Here are some comments (not answers!) to some of the questions.
 
  "If I start tailwheel, is it harder to transition to 
conventional gear, or harder to go the other way?"
 
     When I learned to fly (1956), there were two kinds of gear, 
conventional and tricycle. :-)   The transition from tailwheel to 
tricycle is much easier than the other way, because the problem 
is directional instability on the ground with taildraggers.  
Glider flying is good preparation for this because you learn to 
"fly the aircraft" whenever it is in motion, something not so 
necessary with tri gear.  Also, taildraggers are generally older 
designs, and have more adverse yaw and more interesting stall-
spin characteristics.  Once again, glider flying is good 
preparation, since you should have good awareness of what's going 
on as the airfoils move through the air. 
 
     "Should I go to one of those schools where you go for a week 
or two and do it all at once?"
 
     I don't have any personal experience with flight schools, 
but I have the impression they lean more toward the "business 
flying" end of the spectrum: first steps toward making aviation a 
career, rather than recreational flying.  And they are expensive.  
I think the ideal arrangement is to find an experienced 
instructor that you respect, and do lots of reading to fill in 
the stuff that is often missing from the individual (as opposed 
to "aviation academy") training scheme.  There are a lot of good 
books out there, and they are cheap compared to the other costs 
of flying.  You should have no trouble self studying for the 
written exam, if you have the right materials.  Read some stuff 
written for instructors too, they contain a lot of insights into 
how people learn, the sort of mistakes and bad habits that occur 
and so on.  Books that you don't want to keep in your personal 
library you can sell on the network. 
 
     It is better to get your training in a fairly concentrated 
way rather than strung out over several months.  Since you 
already know how to fly and have some experience, you should be 
able to handle fairly long sessions at the controls, unlike the 
neophyte who turns to jelly after a half hour.  Depending on the 
instructor, equipment availablity, weather, controlled or 
uncontrolled airport, urban or rural, etc, you should be able to 
get most of the skills part of your training done in a couple of 
weeks vacation.  Getting all the experience (long cross country, 
night flying, etc) and the polishing for the flight test may take 
longer to complete.  I'm not a power instructor, so this is just 
an educated guess. 
 
     If you plan to fly taildraggers, I suggest you at least solo 
that first, then if more practical, you can do the rest of your 
license in a trike.  However, taildraggers are more fun to fly, 
and for me the extra 60 miles and 1 1/2 hours of driving that 
you mention would be worth it.  This is assuming the learning 
situation and instructors were equal, because those factors 
really dominate.  Once you have your ASEL you may have more 
options for building the 100 hours taildragger needed for towing.  
Maybe you can buy a block of hours and pay for hull insurance on 
someones under-utilized plane.  
 
      People sometimes ask me about the difference between power 
flying and soaring, and I use the comparison with sailing and 
power boating.  Power is a good way to get someplace interesting, 
if you can stand the noise and boredom, but in soaring (sailing) 
the essence is in developing the right touch and skill in using 
natural forces.  The old rag wing taildraggers occupy sort of a 
middle ground, like sport and utility boats compared to cabin 
cruisers.  For towing I fly  a Pawnee and a Super Cub.  The 
Pawnee is a real farmyard tractor and a great towing machine, but 
the Cub is more fun to fly.  You sort of "strap it on" and take 
off, and it does what you want.  Years ago I learned in a Taylor-
craft and flew J-3's Cessna 120's, and a Luscombe.  Never an 
Airknocker, though I've since flown a couple of Citabrias.  All 
of these are more fun than a 172 or Cherokee.  When you go cross 
country in a taildragger, it's more of an exploration, where you 
check out grass strips and navigate by pilotage.  Getting in and 
out of a 1000' strip is no problem, and it's fun to slip it in 
over the trees and stop in a couple of hundred feet.  And what 
could be better than puttering over the country side at a few 
hundred feet at 50 miles an hour in a Cub on a summers day with 
the door down and the window up....Except maybe topping out a 
thermal with the seagulls in a 1-26 when the air smells different 
and it feels like you're one of the bubbles rising in champagne! 
 
     Ah well.  I haven't flown in nearly a year, mostly due to 
work commitments, but maybe I'll get my priorities straight soon 
and get a life.  But you!  Go out and do it, and have some fun!
 
Tom Dickinson, CFIG ASEL
Long Island Soaring Association
Brookhaven, NY
dickinso@bnl.gov
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.soaring