A very warm welcome to those readers who have stuck with me in spite of the strange on and off nature of the tailwheelersjournal.com website and my own inability to post articles on it. That problem will be solved soon and we'll all be able to access the site as well as to view videos and read new articles, not to mention use of the mercantile.
Our newest Master Class student, Alan Gatward, will soon be practicing one wheel work and the way he's been going, I don't anticipate any trouble at all!
Alan Gatward works his way down to 5AGl in the pivot. (©The Lansburgh Collection. Photo by Brian Lansburgh)
Here is our latest article. It is entitled, "Up on One Wheel" and as such is kind of important to the training that we do at Tailwheel Town.
Up on One Wheel
Written in October of 2017
I first became familiar with this maneuver while announcing air shows for the late Bill Warren. Bill was a terrific aerobatic pilot who did shows all over, but started out with a Cub and later debuted an act called "The Daring Damsels" with two wing walkers on his Stearman. Bill started by flying a little BC12 T-Craft and ended the same way, giving flight instruction in Southern Oregon in his BC12 until the day he died. I've written about Bill before, and I probably will again, because he was so instrumental to my own progress as a pilot.
Preparing to film Bill performing a car top landing. I knelt on the front seat, which enabled me to shoot a closeup of Bill, then pan left and tilt down to show the main wheel dropping into a little well on the car top platform. (©The Lansburgh Collection)
But that day, I watched him in his Dad's Cub, heading down the runway at an airshow in Washington. I think he was just trying to get to the other end, but he decided to do it on one wheel and up he went, slipping a bit in the windless atmosphere in order to keep that one wheel on the paint of the centerline. I was impressed. Later I would learn the technique, realizing that aileron was not enough to get the plane up on one wheel. I had to apply a little back pressure in order to increase ALL the lift, which, with
The Cessna 140 up on one wheel (© The Lansburgh Collection)
the added lift of one aileron was enough to get the plane up on one wheel. It was at that moment that I wondered why most pilots couldn't do what Bill seemed to do so effortlessly. I soon learned that it wasn't so effortless. I practiced over and over, gradually learning the little nuances of simply getting the airplane up on one wheel.
I followed that with the landing in a turn, slaloms and multiples, all maneuvers that now serve as the foundation of the Tailwheel Endorsement courses and Master Classes that I teach at Tailwheel Town. But simply getting an airplane up on one wheel is the foundation of all of that. And it's pretty easy to practice, really. Back pressure, the plant and the proper use of rudder all enter into this relatively basic maneuver. That and practice, practice and practice. Oh, and in my case, anyway, a bunch of money payed to Desser Tire for lots of recaps!
Bill in his Stearman inverted over Central Point, Oregon (© The Lansburgh Collection. Photo by Brian Lansburgh).
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Thanks again for subscribing to this newsletter. Another feature that will return when the website is back is the inclusion of "Older Articles". Since I can't access the site, I can't create the links to them. So until I see you on the web, thanks for reading!
Brian
Remember, every pilot who completes a Tailwheel Endorsement or Stick and Rudder Master Class at Tailwheel Town will receive a complimentary 
