Originally Posted by
Timbo
You Tube is full of good stuff on crosswind landings and rudder work, but doing it in a real J3 is much more fun.
Rudder Skills Tailwheel Training - YouTube
That guy sucked...
Better:
Piper Cub Landing Practice - GoPro - YouTube
When I was 14 my Dad told me, "Yeah, you could start in the 150, or the Cub....the 150 is much easier but if you start in the Cub you'll be a much better pilot." Since I'd been flying with him in his Cub since I was 8, I stuck with the Cub until I needed radios for my Private ticket. It's still one of my favorite airplanes. You never forget your first love.
You have to use the rudder all the time in a Cub, all the way to the tie downs. After about 20 hours of that, when you then transition to a nose dragger, it's very easy. You can even see where you are going when taxiing!
But going the other way (nose wheel to tail wheel) blows some people's minds.
Kinda like starting instrument training in round-gauge cockpit. Then transitioning to a glass cockpit is a snap. Starting out on a glass cockpit and then transitioning into steam gauges after getting your ticket often ends in disaster, as people just don't know how to scan separate instruments. It's easy to say "scan", but you quickly see that "flying" based on the "scan" is harder than it sounds when a low-time pilot has to transition to the harder and more abstract instruments.