Return of Tailwheel Cam

[Eric Fogelin]

Last year I posted a video on YouTube when my plane was first on amphib
floats. The tail perspective video came out far better than my half-assed
duct tape effort to attach my cheap Flip video could have ever expected.

Well, now I have return of tail-wheel cam video. No more duct tape, but
close to the same cheap investment in attachment, but still the same cheap
Flip video camera. The camera is mounted on the tail spear just ahead of the
tailwheel only several inches above the runway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2naB_o81qY

I am still learning how to fly with the third wheel on the back of the
airplane (instead of landing the amphib grocery cart on four wheels). I'm
having a ton of fun learning as the Murphy Elite and I assume Rebel and
Moose are very forgiving designs that handle really well as tail draggers.

I flew my airplane on amphib floats for its first year. After my first
annual, I converted back to conventional gear to enjoy the challenge of
learning how to fly (land) and tail dragger. Man is it fun. In the spring it
will be back to floats.

I now have a completely different airplane. Before on floats, my comfortable
cruising altitude after takeoff from our island airport was 100-500 feet.
Now without floats I have to think about making it to land as I fly over
water at 2000-3000 feet. Wow, that's scary high. I'm almost touching the
outer fringes of the atmosphere. Do I need a pressure suit and oxygen at
this level?

An immediate benefit of loosing the floats, the airplane flies 10 times
faster at near the speed of sound. Okay, I don't have real numbers yet, but
cruise on floats used to be about 97KIAS, and is now about 118KIAS. I like
that.

The video is not an instructional how-to video. It shows 3 landings: first a
wheel landing and then two attempts at a 3 point. The 3 points are more like
2 and 1/3 or maybe 1 and 2 and then 2 and 1/2 landings. All three wheels are
eventually on the ground.

The wind was calm and the airplane leaps off the runway so fast that I'd
takeoff south and immediately land north or vice versa. Oh, and the runway
is 2400 feet surrounded by 100-150 foot trees. I wouldn't do the same thing
in the Cessna 182 that we fly, but I'm at a comfortable pattern altitude 1/2
or 3/4's down the 2400 foot runway to make the turn and land the opposite
direction.

Enyoy.

Eric
N645E




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[bransom]

Great to see this, Eric. Thanks! Great recap here too.
Hey, I know, maybe I ought to get my hind end out to the garage enf to see
the finish line.

-Ben/ 496R


On 2/4/2010 9:16 PM, elist@whidbey.com wrote to rebel-builders:

Last year I posted a video on YouTube when my plane was first on amphib
floats. The tail perspective video came out far better than my half-assed
duct tape effort to attach my cheap Flip video could have ever expected.

Well, now I have return of tail-wheel cam video. No more duct tape, but
close to the same cheap investment in attachment, but still the same cheap
Flip video camera. The camera is mounted on the tail spear just ahead of

the

tailwheel only several inches above the runway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2naB_o81qY

I am still learning how to fly with the third wheel on the back of the
airplane (instead of landing the amphib grocery cart on four wheels). I'm
having a ton of fun learning as the Murphy Elite and I assume Rebel and
Moose are very forgiving designs that handle really well as tail draggers.

I flew my airplane on amphib floats for its first year. After my first
annual, I converted back to conventional gear to enjoy the challenge of
learning how to fly (land) and tail dragger. Man is it fun. In the spring it
will be back to floats.

I now have a completely different airplane. Before on floats, my comfortable
cruising altitude after takeoff from our island airport was 100-500 feet.
Now without floats I have to think about making it to land as I fly over
water at 2000-3000 feet. Wow, that's scary high. I'm almost touching the
outer fringes of the atmosphere. Do I need a pressure suit and oxygen at
this level?

An immediate benefit of loosing the floats, the airplane flies 10 times
faster at near the speed of sound. Okay, I don't have real numbers yet, but
cruise on floats used to be about 97KIAS, and is now about 118KIAS. I like
that.

The video is not an instructional how-to video. It shows 3 landings: first a
wheel landing and then two attempts at a 3 point. The 3 points are more

like

2 and 1/3 or maybe 1 and 2 and then 2 and 1/2 landings. All three wheels

are

eventually on the ground.

The wind was calm and the airplane leaps off the runway so fast that I'd
takeoff south and immediately land north or vice versa. Oh, and the runway
is 2400 feet surrounded by 100-150 foot trees. I wouldn't do the same thing
in the Cessna 182 that we fly, but I'm at a comfortable pattern altitude 1/2
or 3/4's down the 2400 foot runway to make the turn and land the opposite
direction.

Enyoy.

Eric
N645E

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