Membership: The best card for pilots

An all-new AOPA credit card designed with you in mind

June 1, 2018

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Flight Training Preflight June

Ask AOPA

Confounding configurations

‘Conventional’ versus ‘tricycle’ landing gear

By Ferdi Mack

Q: I am taking lessons in a Piper Archer. While studying for the private pilot knowledge test, I came across a mention of “conventional” landing gear. Most airplanes these days seem to have the same type of landing gear, so does that mean the Archer has “conventional” landing gear?

A: Airplanes with wheels typically come in one of two configurations. The configuration on an Archer, where the nosewheel is located near the front of the airplane and the main wheels are farther aft under the wing, is called tricycle landing gear. Often the nosewheel is connected to the rudder pedals for easy steering on the ground. Tricycle gear lets the pilot use more braking force, allows for better visibility, and prevents ground loops (swerving) as compared to conventional landing gear.

Conventional landing gear is also referred to as tailwheel landing gear, and airplanes with this configuration are commonly nicknamed taildraggers. In this configuration, two main wheels are located near the firewall, and a third smaller wheel is attached to the tail. The tailwheel may be connected to a steering mechanism that allows the rudder pedals to deflect it for steering, just like the nosewheel in a tricycle configuration.

Learn more about tailwheel flying in AOPA’s recent Fun Flying webinar.

If you have questions on this or any other flight training topic, contact AOPA’s Pilot Information Center at 800-872-2672, or email [email protected].

Ferdi Mack is senior manager of the AOPA Pilot Information Center.

What if every time you fueled the aircraft you rent for training you could get some of that cost back in your wallet? Or if each time you take a lesson and make a payment you could get cash back? With AOPA’s new World Mastercard you can. AOPA has negotiated this and other great deals with Commerce Bank. In addition to 2-percent fuel savings, card members also get 4 percent cash back on any purchase through AOPA—such as branded apparel, coffee mugs, and more. Card users also get 3 percent back on purchases from select AOPA partners in a wide variety of aviation categories. Oh, and one more thing: You’ll receive 1 percent cash back on any purchase. These reasons are why AOPA Senior Vice President of Marketing Jiri Marousek calls the AOPA World Mastercard “the best card for pilots.”

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Web: www.aopa.org/creditcard

PILOT SPEAK

Dead stick

What do rotting pieces of wood have to do with flying? Nothing, really. Dead stick is an action, the art of flying an injured airplane to the ground and hopefully arriving there undamaged. Usually when the term is used the assumption is that the engine quit for any number of reasons. Never a group for proper grammar, usually you’ll hear a pilot say something along the line of, “He dead sticked it.”

Barber pole

Such a simple name for an oh-so-complex concept. Transonic shock is a potentially destabilizing wave that forms on aircraft surfaces as the aircraft reaches somewhere between about 0.8 Mach and supersonic. To avoid the instability, manufacturers create a maximum mach number, which varies with altitude. Because it constantly changes, a second needle is used on the airspeed indicator to display the current value. That red-and-white-striped pointer looks like a barber pole.