Tailwheel

Ready for your tailwheel endorsement?

Tailwheel flying is some of the most challenging and rewarding flying you can do. Of course the beginning of it all is earning your tailwheel endorsement.

How many hours does a tailwheel endorsement take?

Typically a tailwheel endorsement takes 4-10 hours of flight training. The range is due to how proficient you are when you begin your tailwheel training and what your prior flight experience is. Someone with 1,000 hours of seaplane time will generally catch on to flying a tailwheel airplane much quicker than someone who just earned their private pilot license in a Piper Cherokee.

FLY8MA Tailwheel Training

Fly8MA has offers an online tailwheel training ground school that has been used by over 5,000 students to help them earn their tailwheel endorsement.

The online tailwheel ground school covers:

Normal and Crosswind Takeoffs and Landings
Wheel Landings
3 point Landings
Go-around procedures
Slow Flight, Power on and off Stalls
Power-off 180 degree approached and landings
Forward Slips
Soft field operations

Name Your Price Flight Training

Tailwheel training is not only fun, it will make you a better, and safer pilot. At FLY8MA, we believe in this simple fact so much that we want to see as many pilots earn their tailwheel endorsement as possible. That is why we have started this tailwheel training initiative. To explore a different business model for flight training we will be offering up to 5 hours of tailwheel training at the 1L8 (Hurricane, UT) airport Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays starting on February 19th.

It’s time to kill the killer…

There are many people out there that believe loss of control accidents in flight while maneuvering or during take off and landing will always be a part of aviation. We simply do not agree. At FLY8MA we believe that with better airmanship skills make safer pilots. With the proper training made available to all pilots, we really can prevent loss of control accidents from occurring. Of course, one big barrier for all pilots to receive this type of training is money.

So here’s the good part, we’re ready to put our $$$ where our mouth is. We believe this training is incredibly valuable and every pilot should receive it, and we think you’ll agree once you complete it. So take the challenge, get started below, complete this ground and flight training, and it might just save your life one day.

Here’s how it all works:

Register for and Complete the Tailwheel Airmanship Training Course at FLY8MA.com.
After the completion of the course, you will be able to schedule your first flight lesson for tailwheel and basic airmanship.
You will pay what you feel your training is worth (for up to 5 hours of airplane time and up to 7.5 hours instructor time).

Eligibility:

Anyone holding an FAA Private Pilot Certificate or higher with current flight review.
Must complete the Online Tailwheel Course at FLY8MA in its entirety prior to scheduling.
Canceling a lesson with less than 48hrs notice will make you ineligible to continue in the program.
Max 6’2″ height and 190lbs for the student.
Up to one lesson per day.
Any student may be denied at any point during the program. If the instructor feels you are not putting forth the expected effort before, during, and after your lessons, or if there is any safety concern, you may not be eligible for the program.

Payment:

After each flight lesson, you will be provided with a bill for the full rate of airplane and instructor time.
You may be eligible for up to 5 hours of airplane time and 7.5 hours CFI time with optional payments.
This program is funded with an initial $10,000 from FLY8MA. When you pay for your training that goes back into the bank account to continue the program (paying for maintenance, instructors, insurance, etc.) Once the bank account reaches zero the program will end.
Additional Instructor time is $100/hr and airplane time is $120/hr

Other Details

The program will continue until the $10,000 is gone. Some think this will be a short-lived program. I’d like to think it will never be used up as I think you will see how valuable this training is, and pay for what you feel this training is worth to you. What is becoming a better pilot worth? What are skills that can save a life worth?

When you successfully complete both the ground and flight training portion of this program you’ll have your smiling face added to our Student AIRMANSHIP page and receive 25% off any other FLY8MA online training course.

Tailwheel Endorsement

Completing the online ground school course and showing up for training does not guarantee a tailwheel endorsement. Endorsements are always earned. While a reasonably proficient and experienced private pilot can generally be safe enough to earn a tailwheel endorsement in as little as 5 hours, many students may take longer than that.

Basic Videos

If you’d like to see what your training could look like, take a look at some of our basic tailwheel training videos available for free on YouTube:

How to Schedule a Flight Lesson

Obviously getting to name your price for flight training is not a difficult sell for most pilots (let’s be honest, most pilots are fairly cheap). Given that what we want is for pilots to earn a tailwheel endorsement, priority will be given to those on a first come first serve basis, with consideration given to those who actually have the ability to study and time to commit to showing up to flight lessons.

You can submit the form below to schedule your time slot via phone (all lessons must be scheduled via phone). After submitting the form below, one of our CFIs will contact you to schedule.