new Member

Drew 12345

New member
I'm new to using forums in general. I have owned two different RC planes (both trainers) which have both been crashed into trees. Before this, I have had experience building and flying free flight gliders out of materials I had laying around.
One question I have is weather It's better to have taildragger or tricycle gear on a trainer and which configuration is easier to land.
 

quorneng

Master member
My own opinion is it rather depends on the state of the runway or field.
A taildragger like say a Tundra with its over size wheels can cope with pretty rough surfaces but you have to land in a suitable manner to achieve it.
On a smooth runway a trike can be virtually 'flown on', in other words just fly lower and lower until you are rolling along the ground! The conventional method to avoid a bounce is to 'hold off' to keep the nose wheel clear of the ground until the mains are properly planted and then gently let the nose drop as the speed falls (just watch any airliner land) but then this is very similar to a tail dragger landing as well except the tail rather than the nose drops!
Taxiing a trike on smooth ground is almost like driving a car but any sort of rough ground or bounced landing and the nose wheel leg suffers. If you look at the air accidents reports is does on full size too. ;)
Much of the actual landing is down to the approach. Get that stable and consistent and the landing process is the same each time making the learning process much easier.
 
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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Welcome to the forums!! :D

Generally speaking, tricycle gear setups are easier for new pilots - the nose gear prevents the plane from flipping over on it's nose and the prop chewing into the dirt most of the time. This makes takeoff and landing both a little more forgiving, but as @quorneng mentions above the angle of the touch down really helps prevent repairs, and too much driving of a tricycle gear on rough ground can also trigger a repair session :D
 
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Headbang

Master member
Even experienced pilots will nose over with a tail dragger at times. Little wind gets in the way, brain disconnects from fingers, brain disconnects from reality, what ever the cause, it happens. Props are broken. Spectators comment. In a perfect world you know what happened and laugh about it!
Tricycle gear nose over results in being back up on the wheels, not on the back.
Tail draggers are easier to setup. As others said, can have larger wheels. move the gear forward enough and you will almost never nose over.