Cessna 140 / Taildragger Advice?
 

I'm currently in the closing processes on an aircraft I'm purchasing which happens to be a Cessna 140 that I'm excited about. It will be used for time building and training individuals for tailwheel / private if interested.

For the first month or two I'll be flying it a lot for familiarity and should be at 60-80 hours of time in type after that timeframe.

Just wondering from the vast experience that passes through this forum section in particular, if there was any pieces of advice or reports on the aircraft performance landing, takeoff, or nuances of this taildragger type.

I've been reading a lot for my new venture, The Compleat Taildragger Pilot by Harvey Plourde has been an extremely informative guide. I will be flying with another instructor about 20 hours of familiarity and teaching techniques as I transition into this type of flying and instruction.

Finally any advice on general maintenance to the type would be appreciated as well if you have any.

Flown the C-120, 170, 180, 185 and other taildraggers, but not the 140.
Watch the weight, poor performance with 2 souls and a hot day, tiny airplane.
Congrats.

You'll probably be told this, but just in case you aren't. You never stop flying a tail dragger until you've closed the hanger door. It teaches you to always, always be aware of the wind and its direction.

They are slippery airplanes, hard to slow once you nose it over, so keep that in mind. The flaps are there, but don't do much. It's a good airplane to learn taildragger too, not quite as forgiving as some others, which IMO is good. The taildragger teaches you to land on the center of the runway, with no drift, aligned with the runway. Many people "get away" with not doing this with tricycle and it doesn't come back to bite them, but with a taildragger, it can and it does. As long as you respect it, you are usually fine. There should be MoGas STCs available too. As mentioned above, it's a low-altitude/cool-day airplane, keep it light and don't push it.

The 140 is a good airplane. It's easy to fly, long enough wheel base that it straightens easily.

The 0-200 is a good mod, as is the alternator STC and the gear extensions.

It flies the same as the 120, except you have flaps. You can slip it the same.

If you've been flying the 180, 185, etc, then you understand the propensity for the spring gear to...spring.