The moment a tailwheel aircraft touches down, a battle for control begins. Unlike their tricycle-gear counterparts, taildraggers demand constant attention and skillful handling to avoid nose-over and nose-down accidents.
A recent study by researchers Alex de Voogt from Drew University and Kayla Louteiro from Fairleigh Dickinson University sheds new light on these accidents, revealing that they account for approximately 12% of all general aviation accidents.
Their analysis of 134 such accidents from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database highlights safety concerns and suggests new training considerations for pilots.
Understanding the Risks
General aviation has long faced challenges with landing-related mishaps, but the study underscores the disproportionate role of tailwheel aircraft in these incidents, according to the researchers.
Researchers noted that 58% of nose-over or nose-down accidents involved tailwheel airplanes. The study suggests that these aircraft, which require a different skill set to operate safely, are more prone to loss of control on the ground. In fact, 35% of the examined cases were attributed to this very issue.
To conduct their research, de Voogt and Louteiro utilized the NTSB’s CAROL (Case Analysis and Reporting Online) tool to filter and analyze accident reports from January 2019 to December 2019. Their dataset focused exclusively on single-engine aircraft operating under Part 91 rules.
The researchers examined key factors, such as pilot experience, aircraft type, weather conditions, and landing gear configuration to draw their conclusions.
Their findings confirm that nose-over accidents during takeoff and landing are often exacerbated by uneven terrain or excessive braking.
In instructional settings, such incidents were more common when pilots encountered adverse wind conditions, emphasizing the need for enhanced training in directional control.
Recommendations
The study provides several recommendations to mitigate the risk of nose-over and nose-down accidents, such as:
- Enhanced Training for Tailwheel Pilots: The FAA currently requires additional certification for tailwheel aircraft, but the researchers suggest that more rigorous training, especially under varying wind and terrain conditions, could further reduce accidents.
- Instructor Awareness of Wind-Related Hazards: Given that instructional flights accounted for 21% of these accidents, flight schools should incorporate more comprehensive training on wind effects and directional control for student pilots.
- Better Data Collection on Tailwheel Aircraft: Unlike tricycle-gear planes, there is limited data on the number of tailwheel aircraft in active service, their flight hours, and accident rates. The researchers recommend that the FAA improve its tracking of these aircraft to better assess risks.
While nose-over and nose-down accidents rarely result in fatalities — only 3% of the cases analyzed involved a fatality — they remain a significant contributor to general aviation accident statistics. By focusing on improved training and data collection, aviation regulators and flight schools can work to reduce these incidents, the study notes.
Understanding the unique challenges of taildraggers and addressing instructional gaps will ensure that taildragger pilots can touch down with confidence, rather than concern, the researchers conclude.
You can read the full study, Nose-Over and Nose-Down Accidents in General Aviation: Tailwheels and Aging Airplanes, at ResearchGate.net.
Secret to all tailwheel flying is keeping it straight when the wheels are on the ground.
Not difficult when taught properly.
“Their findings confirm that nose-over accidents during takeoff and landing are often exacerbated by uneven terrain or excessive braking.”
I hope that study didn’t cost much.
If one begins to fly in a taildragger you are able to fly almost any nosedragger with out much trouble. Alaska has the highest percentage of tailwheel (&float) planes, it also is the state with the most backcountry GA accidents which might explain the disparity between nose wheel and tailwheel accidents. There are multiple places one can go in an tailwheel aircraft that can’t be safely done with a nosedragger.
No surprises here. In 1968 I started flight instructing at a large flight school in Virginia. We regularly had 20 flight instructors, of which it was about 50/50 full time and part time. I worked there part time until 1976. There were two instructors who could teach tailwheel instruction. Think about that. That was 57 years ago! The problems here started sometime way in the past. A huge portion of my hours is flying tailwheel airplanes. My suggestion to help everyone flying tailwheel beginners or experienced is practice, practice, practice. Will it solve the problem? No, but it may keep more pilots proficient.
“The moment a tailwheel aircraft touches down, a battle for control begins. Unlike their tricycle-gear counterparts, taildraggers demand constant attention and skillful handling to avoid nose-over and nose-down accidents.”
Wow! I didn’t realize how incredibly lucky I’ve been. 10,142 hours of tailwheel time (most dual given) and no dings. 7,000+ hours of dual given in Pitts Special landings. Lucky again. Checked out three individuals in a Pitts each with one leg amputated. No dings. One flew competition in a single-hole Pitts for years. No dings.
‘Guess we didn’t realize how close we always were to disaster.
Training is what it’s all about. Just being able to land it isn’t the goal. Being able to fly with the ball always centered and the speed where it’s supposed to be is the goal. Bad basics always leads to problems. A tailwheel is just quicker to point that out.
Incidentally, what is a “nose-down” accident?
12% of the GA accidents are in TW aircraft, what percent of the total fleet do tailwheel aircraft represent?
Seems the author had a bias they wanted to push.
Learned to take off and land at 15 in a Globe Swift (stock 125hp) then on to a Skybolt on a short grass strip, personally think all pilots should have at least 3 ours of dual in a taildragger. It would defiantly help teach ” You Never Quit flying until the bird stops”
Well said Johnny!
Learn to fly in a tail-dragger, especially with prevailing cross-wind and flying from a short runway and the rest of fixed-wing aviation becomes easy. Learn to fly in a tricycle and then transitioning to a tail-dragger is a serious issue. At our aeroclub, the old runway was 2,200 feet long and there were tension wires behind one of the runway ends. The day the wind was aligned with the runway – as opposed to across it – we made a mark on the calendar to remember the occasion. And we learned to fly on 65-hp PA11s. Years on, the runway was lengthened by some 1,500 ft and the engines upgraded to 90 hp. But new-age flight instructors ensured we had more accidents than never before.
Interesting that the article focuses on “Nose Down and Nose Over” accidents. Those are actually pretty rare. The vast majority of tailwheel incidents and accidents on long flat runways start as a groundloop where the front and back ends swap ends usually with a wing tip banging on the ground in the process; sometimes due to mechanical failure, but typically due to pilot lapses. The majority of “Nose Over” accidents happen on short, rough strips where you rarely find a nosewheel. I can see why the author of this article apparently chose to remain anonymous.
As was stated(implied) by Jim Roberts; you must be a pilot before you transition to being a tail wheel pilot. Your depth perception must be good, your feel of balance must be good, and your reaction to things happening must be absolute. If you wait around to see what happens when the airplane is talking to you, it’s too late. Flying a tail dragger is easy; it’s just those 10 seconds before leaving the ground and the 10 seconds after you touch back down, that gets/demands your attention. Be the master of your ‘ship’ and ‘drive’ it like you are…..!!
The vast majority of pilots I fly with, high time, or low time can’t place the airplane on centerline exactly lined up with the runway. That’s the problem in a nutshell. The airplane is flying them, not the other way around. Touching down in a crab in a tailwheel airplane is conducive to losing control.
Another study to determine what was common knowledge 🤔
And suggesting corrections already in play, brilliant.
“The moment a tailwheel aircraft touches down, a battle for control begins.” Really?
If a pilot is well trained and proficient, and operating within demonstrated crosswind conditions on a reasonably smooth takeoff or landing surface, that statement is largely hyperbole. But hey, it sucked me in to reading the article! And not only did I read the article, I slogged my way through all 6 pages of the study.
The authors did an admirable job of studying accident statistics, but number crunching aside, let’s use some common sense. It’s no surprise that tailwheel aircraft were involved in 58% of nose down and nose over accidents. THERE’S NO NOSEWHEEL TO COUNTERACT THE FORWARD TIPPING MOMENT! Can I please get a grant to study this?
When the little wheel is under the engine and not under the tail, a sloppy pilot can get away with a lot of aircraft mishandling (braking too hard on landing, inadequate or non-existent crosswind control, poor rudder usage to maintain directional control on takeoff, etc.). Too often, a nosewheel is a crutch.
As long as pilot training is reduced to square-filling to push the client down the line and out the door, we can expect to see no improvement in accident stats. The recommendations for enhanced training for tailwheel pilots, and instructor awareness of wind-related hazards make sense. The recipe for reducing these mishaps lies in proficient instructors, well-versed and experienced in crosswind operations, combined with a realistic and challenging tailwheel training syllabus. And emphasis on these operations during flight reviews will help too.