Flight School: Tailwheel Training

Pia Bergqvist

Friday, September 30, 2011 at 05:38 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

One perspective advocates for primary flight training in a tailwheel airplane, asserting it cultivates superior directional control skills and rudder awareness that are easily transferable to other aircraft types and can help reduce common landing and takeoff accidents.
The opposing view contends that essential stick and rudder skills can be learned in any aircraft with effective instruction, and that training should prioritize the specific type of aircraft a pilot intends to fly to address modern missions, advanced systems, and real-world scenarios.

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Does it make sense to do primary training in a tailwheel airplane?

(September 2011) Rich Stowell has been instructing full time since 1987. He has logged 32,000 spins, 23,000 landings and 8,300 hours of tailwheel time. Stowell was the 2006 FAA National Flight Instructor of the Year and is a seven-time NAFI Master Flight Instructor and charter member of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE). He says: