Well, I guess the old saying "your results may vary" applies to flying the Texas Taildragger conversion of the Cessna 150/152. It's been a few years since I flew that one and Dana's comments don't jibe with my experience flying a C150/150 but then again it's because it was a 150 and not a 152, it had a 150 HP Lyc on the nose, long-range Flint Aero tanks, and a STOL kit. To me, flying that airplane was somewhere between flying a real taildragger and flying a tricycle gear because the visibility over the cowling was about halfway between the two and so was the handling on the ground. I thought it was kind of a tame taildragger myself but as others have noted, once the tires leave the ground there is no difference in handling.
What I also remember about the Texas Taildragger was that the hollow aluminum tailcone of the 150 really magnified the sound from the tailwheel on rollout (on pavement, anyway)- it was quite a roar. It may be that Dana's experience of the airplane being somewhat squirrelly on the ground has to do with how it was rigged. The conversion moves the mains forward into new structural boxes that hold the gear legs and I would guess that if everything isn't nice and square and the toe in/toe out isn't correct, squirrelly behaviour could result (as Larry noted). The Texas Taildragger is not a factory conversion... it's done by shops under an STC and there are good shops and some not so good shops. Oscar Zuniga Air Camper NX41CC San Antonio, TX mailto: taildr...@hotmail.com website at http://www.flysquirrel.net
