Includes course access for yourself with your Sporty's account immediately after checkout.
We'll ship you or the recipient of your choice an online activation code for this course. This physical gift packet includes one activation code and directions on redeeming the course.
We can email the recipient of your choice instant online access to the course. This is the easiest way to send someone else the course as a gift.
Tailwheel Checkout Course with Patty Wagstaff
Shot in 4K!
Take your flying skills to the next level with Sporty’s Tailwheel Checkout Course.
Learn the secrets to safe taildragger flying
Take your flying skills to the next level with Sporty’s Tailwheel Checkout Course. Over two hours of 4K video help you master these demanding airplanes and explore the huge variety of tailwheel operations, from Piper Cubs on grass strips to Turbine Otters on glaciers. Earning a tailwheel endorsement can open up an exciting world of flying adventures, including Light Sport Aircraft, high performance experimental aircraft, and backcountry flying. This course is the perfect introduction.
Fly with an aviation legend
Your host on this journey is legendary pilot and instructor Patty Wagstaff. You know her as one of the world’s greatest aerobatic pilots, but she’s also an experienced bush pilot, having flown extensively in Alaska and Africa. Throughout this course, Patty shares her practical tips for safer and smoother flying, learned through decades of flying in some of the world’s most extreme conditions.
More than just the basics
This comprehensive course covers both the theory and practice of flying tailwheel airplanes. Multiple camera angles help you visualize every maneuver from start to finish, and 3D animations explore key topics.
Topics include:
- The history of taildraggers
- Tailwheel airplanes and their systems
- Stability, inertia, and left-turning tendencies
- Why ground loops happen
- Tips for safer preflight inspections
- Tailwheel taxiing techniques
- Takeoffs: normal, soft field, short field, and crosswind
- Landings, including three point and wheel
- Patty’s three-step method for smoother approaches and landings
- Advanced tips: slips, flap usage, and common soft field landing mistakes
- Bush pilot techniques and ski flying
- Special “what if?” sections teach you how to react when things go wrong
Wide variety of airplanes
Sporty's Tailwheel Checkout Course shows off the fully variety of flying you can enjoy in these airplanes.
Airplanes featured:
- Citabria
- Super Decathlon
- J-3 Cub
- Super Cub
- Extra 300
- Cessna 180
- Turbine Otter
Works on all your devices
Like all Sporty's courses, Sporty's Tailwheel Checkout Course works on all your devices, from laptop to tablet to smart TV.
Online Course using a web browser—Login here
iPhone/iPad in Sporty's Pilot Training app—Apple App Store
AppleTV—4th Generation AppleTV or newer
Android in Sporty's Pilot Training app—Google Play Store
RokuTV App—search for the Sporty's Pilot Training Channel on your Roku device
From The Aviation Consumer magazine:
"An excellent resource for the newbie or old pro."
"I think it's well worth the price."
"a one-stop shop for a well-rounded ground course."
