Paul and I have been friends since high school. He has owned a Swift, which I have had many rides in, for longer than I can remember. Twelve years ago while on a service call, I discovered my customer was a CFII. One thing lead to another, by the next day I was taking a flying lesson. It was all over from there, I was hooked. Norm Caswell taught me to fly in his Cherokee N98190. Some years later, I purchased  Cherokee N5670U. Three hundred fifty (tricycle gear) hours later I sold it to buy a Corvette. Four years later I was longing to fly again. While on vacation, we chartered a Cessna 310 to see lighthouses on the Outer Banks, as luck would have it, Dave, the pilot was a CFI . He allowed me and my son Brian take turns flying the plane. Once again I was dying to have a plane. Meanwhile back in Western Pennsylvania, Paul had an extra Swift, he was selling.  I had never even thought about buying a Swift. I went for some rides it, with every flight I was liking it more and more. Now I had to have this plane.  Paul made me an offer I could not refuse. Consulting the Used Aircraft Guide I read that the Swift had the worst accident record of all, but Paul assured me it was the pilot and not the plane that was the problem. I bought Swift N781X, now known by its original call, N78320.

    I had zero hours in a tail dragger and was in search of information on the subject. There is the book, Stick and Rudder, a couple of articles here and there, but that is about all I could find. I especially wanted to read personal accounts of others that have learned this skill. Well, this is my story and I=m sticking to it.

    Well, I now own Swift N78320. All that is need is some flight instruction, which Paul agreed to supply. He is not a CFI but has a lot of Swift time. How hard could this be to teach someone that already knows how to fly to deal with a small wheel in the back instead of a larger one in the front? I will tell you that it is harder than I thought. As pilots go, I was a good Cherokee pilot ( that is my opinion) but I had no clue as to how different a tail dragger was to fly. Note, that I said different, not hard. I would normally rent a Cessna 150 to fly from Clarion County Pennsylvania to Indiana County Pennsylvania, Jimmy Stewart Airport, where N78320 was. The trip normally takes thirty minutes by air and one and a half hours by ground on a good day. My thirteen-year-old son, Brian, would accompany me whenever he could. He watched and waited patiently for me to learn this new skill, usually critiquing my performance on the way home. Paul would always take him up for a thrill ride and let him fly some before we headed home.

    There seems to be a fine line between still being in control and being out of control, so we decided if things got ugly that he would take either control or I would give  control to him before things were unrecoverable. Little did I know, half way down the runway on the first take off we would put this plan into effect. As we began swerving to the left and then to the right, it was time for Paul to exercise his skills. I was in total disbelief that I could not take  off with out trouble. By the third or so take off, I had it somewhat figured out and did not need as much help. Later I read somewhere, you fly the Swift with fingers and toes, not hands and feet. This was the problem. Too much left rudder, then too much right rudder, and not quick enough response. If you don=t use excessive rudder, then you don=t have such a correction problem. Did I mention the wind? This was in the Winter when it always seemed to be blowing, but never down the runway. If it was=t blowing when I got there, it would be when Paul arrived. Looking back, I think in the beginning, it would have been easier to wait for calmer days to start the learning process, however both of us being self employed, we did=t have that luxury. In my Cherokee you could make big control changes but not much happened.. In the Swift when the controls are moved, things happen right now, it is great. So much for taking off, it was getting easier every pass. Now I am teaching Brian what I have come to know. He is putting me through the same things I put Paul through.

    What goes up must come down, now we have to make a landing. Paul offered to show me how it was done so I accepted the offer. He made it look easy. Now it was my turn, I think this is where Pauls hair got a little more gray. I quickly noticed a couple of things. The plane sinks very fast without power and the speed at which we are approaching the runway was higher than I was used to in my Cherokee. For the next couple of lessons I tested the strength and durability of the landing gear. Tiggers are not the only things that bounce. One of the biggest problems I personally had was the flare and finding the foot or so above the runway where you bleed off excess speed and transition to the runway. Sometimes a little high and sometimes a little low and back up we go. Paul, always ready for a save, would bring us back under control, and then we would try again. Down to the ground we come again, flaring out, bleeding off speed and kerplunk. It seemed as though we were falling ten feet sometimes. Paul said it was only a foot. I think it was the nose high attitude that made it appear higher than it was. In time the landings got better and Paul would start to relax. The Swift does exactly what you tell it to do, problem was what should I be telling it to do now. We both learned a lot flying together. The things that Paul does automatically when flying, he had to ask himself why he does it, so that he could explain it to me. The other thing that I didn't realize was that we had lots of runway and plenty of time to land. I was forcing the plane down instead of flying on down the runway to bleed off speed.

    I was feeling pretty good about things, so it was time for the check ride. I called Pete Hall (CFI ) who can fly most anything, about going for a check ride with me. His first question was Ahow do you feel about your ability to fly the plane?@. I answered that I was ready for the sign off and just need flying time to polish my skills. I demonstrated to him what I could do in the air and then it was time to land. Pete asked if I was going to do a wheel landing, full stall landing or tail low landing? I answered that when we touched down on the runway I would let him know. Wrong answer! I was informed that I must be committed on final, otherwise you have no reference point on which to improve. It made sense to me so that is what I do now. His tips were also very helpful. Check out complete, log signed off. ALets go dad@ said Brian, and we were off.

    I am now very happy with my take offs and landings. The Swift is a wonderful aircraft that is a pleasure to fly. I am now doing loops and rolls, although not very, well but still having a blast. Paul told me if I could fly the Swift that I would not have trouble with any other normal tail dragger. I have tested this theory in a Cub and it is true. I love my Swift. If you don=t have one, I can only hope someday that you do.

    A special thanks to Norm Caswell (deceased) CFII and friend. And also to my long time friend Paul Whittaker for the time you have taken from your busy life to help me.