Thinking of my last posting on this issue I'm sounding to myself like a grumpy old know-it-all making blanket proclamations. Sorry for being so dogmatic. Clearly there is a case to be made, especially with newly-built or newly modified airplanes, to take it down the runway to make sure the landing gear is tracking correctly, that the brakes (if it has them) work and nothing falls off the plane before one commits to actually taking off. To get used to the sight picture and the sounds. I would think this might take two or three (at most) trips down the runway if it is a nice long one and the wind is utterly calm. Even with very light breeze I've had a wing pick up unexpectedly while rolling out relatively slowly on landing so - especially with a taildragger - playing around with high speed taxiing is quite risky for anyone unfamiliar with their plane.
Unless it's a Terrafugia or one of the other hybrids hitting the market, planes are notoriously uncomfortable on the ground. They aren't designed for being on the ground except as a reluctant necessity. They'll sometimes flip over just while parked, much less while going down a runway in that never-never land between taxiing and flying. Light airplanes with low wing loadings will take to the sky at the slightest opportunity because they think that's what you want them to do and it's what they were designed to do. Taking a plane, especially a taildragger, into the halfway world of not really taxiing/not really flying takes a lot of skill - a lot more skill than to just take off and land. To have gone there and come back safely 75 times says a lot for your skills Mark. 75 times seems a little much, but you obviously know what you're doing. A lot of planes have come to grief exploring that halfway world and, except for the rational objectives I mentioned earlier there's no reason I can think of to fool around on the ground. I'll leave it there and try and stop sounding like Rush Limbaugh but would advise anyone doing this exercise to use a really really long runway, absolutely no wind and no distractions (such as you'd find at a towered airport, traffic or not). Mike KSEE ____________________________________________________________ Man, 63, Avoids Wrinkles 63 Yr Old Man Shares Simple DIY Skin Tightening Method He Uses At Home http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/54d13bd7509f33bd713f9st03vuc
