Tailwheel/tricycle takeoff "rotation"?

Question

I'm curious...I was just thinking on this last night. I know quite a bit about different aircraft types, and I know most of how takeoffs and landings work. I know that "rotation" in a tricycle airplane is when you pitch-up at a certain airspeed during the takeoff run, increasing the AOA, and lifting off. You hold it level until rotation speed, and pull back on the stick to pitch-up, right? Now, on older, slower tailwheel planes (old biplanes, etc), it looks like you just speed up until you lift off, since your wings are already at high AOA to the wind, right? But with more modern types, it seems that the tail lifts off the ground as you gain speed, and then the plane lifts off. Does it do that by itself, or does the pilot actually put slight FORWARD pressure on the stick to move the elevators down? That would increase the stabilizers camber and increase the lift, raising the tail off the ground...then once you reach safe takeoff speed, you pull BACK on the stick, lowering the tail and increasing the wings AOA to give lift-off? I see it as just like rotation in a tricycle-gear plane, only the tricycle plane starts out level to the ground and a tailwheel plane has to be MADE level using the elevators until rotation speed is reached? Basically, I'm just asking whether a tailwheel pilot has to put forward pressure on the stick until he rotates, or if he just holds it "neutral" until it's time to pull back and lift off, same as a tricycle plane? I somehow can't imagine a Spitfire reaching takeoff speed still nose-up and with the pilot blind to the front. The only other explanation I can think of is that the tail just naturally lifts off the ground as you accelerate down the runway, and no forward input is needed on the stick, just pull back to take off, like a tricycle gear plane?

Answer 1

No, you shouldn't push the stick forward to lift the tail. A properly trained tailwheel pilot holds aft stick during the initial takeoff roll to keep the tailwheel firmly planted, helping to ensure controllability until the rudder becomes effective, especially in a crosswind. Then the stick is generally brought to the neutral position close to flying speed and kept there until the tail lifts of its own accord, followed shortly by the mains lifting off. The aircraft should normally lift off in a tail-low attitude and no real rotation takes place. No forward push is required and little or no back pressure for rotation is required either since you should already be in the correct lift-off attitude. A proper takeoff in a taildragger is very much like a soft-field takeoff in a tricycle gear aircraft, if you happen to know what that's like.



Many so-called taildragger pilots have the false idea that you must push the stick forward to lift the tail. You'll see some raise the tail until the fuselage is horizontal to the ground, or at least nearly so, then apply back pressure to lift off. Some do it so they can see as if they're in a nose-dragger. This is VERY bad technique except in the case of an extremely narrow runway (think bush flying) where one must be able to see over the nose to stay centered, or a very rough field where the tailwheel might be damaged if left on the ground (again, think bush flying). In any other situations, rolling along tail-high simply increases the takeoff roll for no good reason and exposes you to unnecessary risk of a ground loop, since raising the tail then lowering it again to rotate induces forces that destabilize the roll and cause you to swerve at least slightly, thereby making you unnecessarily work harder than you have to, and very much harder in a cross-wind.



In many higher horsepower tailwheel aircraft, if you shove the stick foreward to lift the tail before the tail is aerodynamically ready to fly, you'll make an abrupt left turn out into the weeds as torque, p-factor and spiralling slipstream will typically combine to exceed rudder authority. In very high horsepower taildraggers, such as WWII fighters, doing so can kill you. At takeoff power, raising the tail too high, then "rotating" to lift off can result in a torque roll followed by crashing inverted, which is 99.9% fatal.

Answer 2

Most tailwheel aircraft are at a stalled AOA in the three-point attitude. The reason for this is to increase drag during landing rollout. Typically you will have to push the nose down during the takeoff roll. This does three things, increases your visibility, unstalls the wing, and reduces drag (both by reducing the AOA and lifting the tailwheel off the ground) so you can takeoff faster.



Some can be flown off in the three-point attitude or even wheelie on the tail wheel (not recommended, but with enough power and using flaps it is possible). Go on youtube and look at B-17s taking off; they use the three-point attitude with no rotation at all.



Also, you don't need to 'rotate' trigear aircraft. Set 20 degrees of flaps on a Cessna 182 or higher (bit draggy on the 172 for the power) and each will 'levitate' off the runway at the correct speed.

Answer 3

You are basically correct.

About 5 sec after the beginning of the takeoff roll, I apply some forward stick pressure to raise the tail and allow the plane to accelerate at a higher rate. At the proper airspeed, I then apply some aft stick to lift off.

If I didn't apply the forward pressure, the plane would tend to fly at a dangerously high angle of attack very close to the ground, lifting off all 3 wheels simultaneously. Not good.

Somewhere in this sequence of events I realize how far off the initial trim setting was and try to correct it so the forces aren't too great.

Answer 4

As the other stated that's basically what happens. In my tailwheel I don't really push forward. I just ease off pressure to let the tail get off the ground and then rotate.

You can also hold back keeping the tail on the ground and lifting off. It's not really recommended because you can end up with the tail wheel shimmy.

Answer 5

Normal takeoff in a tailwheel airplane involves bringing the tail up by pushing the stick/yoke forward, then rotating as in a tricycle gear airplane.



The controls are usually held neutral until the airplane begins to accelerate, then the stick is moved forward to raise the tail...

Answer 6

The pilot motives the nostril of the plane to upward thrust by utilising pulling back on the administration yoke. There are hinged panels on the tail, called elevators, which could bend up and down. Pulling on the yoke will enhance the elevators, and whilst they are raised, the bypass of air over them pushes the tail down, and will enhance the nostril of the plane. as quickly as the plane's nostril is raised in this manner, the wings start to produce lots greater raise—lots, actually, that they %. the plane surprising up from the runway, and the plane starts flying. The pilots wait till the plane is going very nearly quickly adequate to fly even without elevating its nostril, and then they intentionally enhance the nostril to make sure that the plane leaves the runway promptly. Pilots call this "rotation." this could be a important simplification, yet that's surely the way it particularly works.