Taildragger

The Piper Super Cub is a popular taildragger aircraft.

Taildragger describes an aircraft with an arrangement in which a point at the aircraft's tail forms one of the primary undercarriage contact points. In early aircraft, a tail skid made of metal or wood was used. In modern aircraft, a small, articulated wheel assembly is attached to the most posterior part of the airframe. The term taildragger is aviation jargon for conventional gear.

Taildragger aircraft are no longer produced in large numbers. They are still commonly found in specialty applications, including aerobatic airplanes, agricultural aircraft, and bush planes. There are many quite popular taildragger homebuilt aircraft and sport planes.

Taildraggers will behave just like tricycle gear aircraft when flying. Taildraggers, though, have ground handling characteristics that are generally considered more challenging. In a taildragger, the center of mass is located behind the front landing gear, creating an inherently less stable situation. If the pilot does not exercise the proper attention, the center of mass tries to move ahead of the front landing gear. This results in an abrupt turn known as a ground loop, typically causing damage.

While on the ground, visibility over the nose may be reduced due to the pitch attitude of the aircraft, depending on the model and geometry of specific aircraft. But, not all taildraggers have poor forward visibility on the ground. For example, the taildragger Cessna 170 has better visibility over the nose than later model tricycle gear Cessna 172's due to the increased size of the instrument panel in the later model 172's.

Taildragger versions of the same aircraft often have higher useful loads and cruise speeds due to the elimination of the nose gear and its associated drag and weight.

There are experienced tailwheel pilots who insist that the added challenges of a tailwheel aircraft arise largely from a lack of skill that results from poor training when transitioning from a tricycle landing gear aircraft. Most pilots now learn to fly in tricycle gear aircraft (e.g., Cessna 152 and Cessna 172) and only later transition to taildraggers. Since the number of factory-built general aviation aircraft with a tailwheel is fairly low, the numbers of instructors experienced in this type of aircraft are also limited.