High performance/Tailwheel
 

I am a brand new CFI and along with scrounging for students, I am intrested in adding high performance to my certificate. I have my tailwheel and in the intrest in building some more tailwheel time was intrested in high performance tailwheel aircraft that could satisfy both. Anybody with any suggestions in the mid michigan (or anywhere close) area that has access to any high performance conventional gear aircraft?

Cant help you in MI but when I was in CA I got connected with a guy who was selling a steerman for an out of state client. Needless to say the airplane needed to be operated to keep it "fresh" so I ended up flying that around for close to 50 hours over a year.

You wont find a much cooler high performance tailwheel.

Your next bet will be if you can find a Maule or Husky or Cessna 180.

Bonus points for Cessna 195 or Beaver.

Double bonus points for complex and high performance such as a temco swift or a dc3.

You may want to consider buying (or making friends with someone who owns) a Yak-52TW ... great aircraft (even if some people think they're ugly)... they are... unique. Nice handling qualities for that type of aircraft.

The -52TW and specifically the T-6 seem to be the gateway for flying the real good stuff... like a Yak-3/9 or P-51

Where in mid-Michigan are you?

Find a soaring club that tows in a Piper Pawnee or a Cessna Agtruck. While they may have high minimums (say, 100 hrs tailwheel time) they often waive them when they're short of towpilots. In my club's case, the "open pilot" clause in the policy required 100 hrs, but for a $100 or so they were able to add me to the policy by name. I had about 90 hrs of tailwheel time, so it was an easy stretch for them.

Thanks for info,

Yeah, I thought about the T-6 out of Kalamazoo. That would be quite fun, but the cost might be prohibitive for me. I gave them a call though to get an idea of the cost for a high performance endorsement as well as some real tailwheel time. Havent heard back yet.

Haven't been able to find any C-180's around yet...

The reason Im looking to build my tailwheel is for towing gliders. I am waiting to hear back if they can add me to the insurance for a 100 bucks or whatever, and waive some of the time.

Im in the Lansing area.

Have you considered expanding the type of flying and looked into aerobatics. I know MI has a chapter. I used to volunteer with them as a teenager and stuff. There are usually a few CFI's in the mix. Just a thought.

Here is the link to the chapters website

index