Some stuff I never 'got'...

One thing really, that I've never 'got'. It's funny how learning to teach
the basics takes you back to some things you just accepted but never really
questioned... I find I'm full of question now <grin>.

Elevator position during taxi with a crosswind and a quartering tailwind.
Now most of us have all probably heard the memory aid (for elevator position
during taxi) 'climb' in a headwind and 'dive' in a tailwind - a memory aid
to help remember elevator placement with different wind directions during
taxi). If one were in a tail dragger it makes perfect sense; i.e. up
elevator in a headwind to 'plant' the tailwheel firmly on the ground and
down elevator in a tailwind to keep the tailwheel from lifting up and off
the ground...... but in a tricycle gear? Why? In some ways, in a tricycle
gear the argument could be made that the best position for the elevator
during taxi in a head/cross wind would be down (instead of up). Why?
Because holding the elevator down would plant the nosewheel more firmly
against the ground - it would seem that up elevator would reduce the
pressure/contact on the ground (however minimal the loss - unless you had a
honking wind).

Is there something I'm missing? Or is this just a 'vestigial practice from
the days when taildraggers really were the 'conventional' aircraft?

--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil E. Chapman
CP-ASEL-IA

Student - C.F.I.

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -


.

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