When the tail wheel touches the ground, bury the stick in your stomach. Pin that tail wheel to the ground (Drag the Tail - hence Taildragger) until the plane is stopped on the apron. Doing so applies aerodynamic download on the tail wheel, and increases its rolling resistance, keeping you straight without having to peddle on the rudder so much. Thanks for sharing mate, I am glad your lovely machine was ok. (nice approach BTW)

If you do not want criticism, say nothing, do nothing,be nothing. Thanks for the post! We learn more from our failures than we do from our success.

The moral of the story is to always taxi away like you meant to do that.

Loved the steep approach, I was taught this way by an old pilot "always be within gliding distance of the runway when in the circuit". Sadly I rarely see nice steep approaches like this. I used to own/fly an emeraude G-ARDD. Lovely aircraft and I had a lot of fun in her.

With a taildragger, the aerobatics start when you touch the ground.

About a good a ground loop as you can have! Glad you didn't bend anything. Kitfox are great fun!

Many years ago, I met Duane Cole at Oshkosh. He would always say 'there are no squirrely airplanes only squirrely Pilots'.

any ground loop you can taxi away from is a good one.

Ive got about 500 hours on tail draggers A number of things ive learned about landing tails 1. The landing is never over until the aircraft is locked in the hangar😊 2.you either land slower in the 3 point landing attitude (heavily depending on the wind speed and direction) or you wheel it on and gently allow the tail.to come down as you slow 3 at any stage you start to lose rudder control you must power up and either go around or if you have enough runway power up to regain control and then again allow the tail to slow come down. 4.also trying to land a biplane(tigermoth as example)in a heavy crosswind is a recipe for disaster But hey what would i know 25 years as a professional pilot and 10000+ hours Oh and no crash here For all tail wheel flyers There are those that have ground looped and those that will That wasnt a crash it was a very mild groundloop with no real consequences other than a slightly bruised ego Weve all been there and if you havent you will to varying degrees

It happens. You have to dance a lot with taildraggers, keep the feet moving - especially light ones, they don't stop flying until they've stopped moving and even then you can't be 100% sure! My father learnt on taildraggers and flew many types that were, including a Kit Fox. Well done you for posting such - brave. I'm so glad that you got away with it and "learnt about flying from that".

Big time thanks for putting this on here for us, takes courage, helps us all...I admire you

So, when you came to a stop, were you looking both ways for traffic? Or, to make sure nobody saw that. lol

He did not pull back the stick to maximum after groundcontact, an he holds the stick like a pencil. 20 years ago happend to me on a Supercap. Same mistakes. The landing ends with the stop of the plane. Thats a rule......

Quick thinking by the pilot to engage locomotive drive during the ground loop recovery.

Two kinds of taildragger pilots. Those that have and those that will. MY ground loop was in a 46 champ after tail wheel shimmy tossed both steering springs. Heel brakes kept me straight ALMOST long enough. Dropped my guard half a second and the rodeo started.😳 FORTUNATELY there was no damage to anything but my pride.😖

If you look at the right seat rudder pedals you can see he is riding the left rudder. just before he touches down you can see the small reflection of the rudders on the right. You can see he is left foot heavy. At 1:15 you can barely see his left rudder input is slightly higher than right. Then again you can see a shimmer of the medal rudder pedal at 1:20. Place your cursor on that spot, and look at his knees. From there you can see his leg work and see he never quite fully deployed right rudder enough to compensate for his left drift until it was too late. He did input some right foot briefly and straightened the nose on the main wheels, but as soon as the tail dropped and the rudder became less effective, he let the left foot come up again until he looped. What I didn't really see was ANY real x wind correction with his stick work. At least from what we can see. Regardless, no big deal other than maybe hi ego, and the plane probably when on to fly again!!!

No crash, just a ground loop. Wind appears to be from the left, but I never saw him put his aileron into it so he landed with a drift. Can't tell what he was doing with the rudder, but from the sound of the tailwheel hopping I am guessing he was too slow on the rudder input as well. One other technique he never used was adding some throttle to correct his turn to the left. Pressing the right rudder peddle and giving the plane a burst of throttle would have put prop wash over the rudder and given it more authority and better directional control. He landed like a tricycle gear pilot does, he relaxed as soon as the gear was on the ground. You fly a taildragger all the way to the tie down ropes.

Right rudder, RIGHT RUDDER! Ehhh, that wasn't a crash, just a technicality. Kitfoxes are tough as nails and just so fun to fly. I've personally witnessed a Kitfox bipe shed a prop blade seconds after rotation, do an immediate 180 and land downwind with a thud. Very bad recovery practice considering the pilot still had 500' of runway to his disposal but, aircraft was unscathed. Truly a badass little bird. Congrats on your build. If not homebuilt, congrats still on a solid purchase.

Thanks for sharing.....Helping us all learn. Brave to share.

Unstabilized approach, high and hot, touch down needed to be a lot further down the runway with a slower air/groundspeed. Its a tail dragger and you are still 'landing' those until you come to a complete standstill. You were lucky and got away with this one. Good that you put it up on Utube:)

Taildraggers need massive amounts of small tap dancing on the rudders while waiting for the tail to come down. The idea is to prevent a ground loop from too much rudder in one direction. Once tail is down, full back stick and keep dancing. Even worse in x winds.

That's no crash, that's practice.

Thanks for sharing. There are those that have and those that will ground loop.

To all asking about stick control on the ground. Untill the aircraft slows sufficiently the ailerons are effective. Once the tail wheel is firmly planted then it is rudder pedals only. None of us watching know what the winds were doing and on a light aircraft such as the Kit Fox..even a light breeze plays a part.

I've been in the weeds a few times due to crosswind challenges. Good learning experience. Looks like you tried to wheel land it. Lots of energy left when you do that. This means More energy to damage things. Wheel landings are fun to do but not necessary. Three point full stall landings guarantee minimum energy at touchdown. Also, the transition from two point two three point can be tricky. Lastly, keep that downwind wing down more and more when you roll out. Should be all the way by the time you stop.

very cool of you to post, thank you.

This is why I like doing 3 point landings on tail draggers. Airplane is stalled, not much speed on touchdown, more predictable than lowering the tail after landing. :) Thank you for posting the video.

Yeah, I've long flown with lightweight flexable running or walking shoes. I prefer mesh top and side New Balance sneakers as they bend easily. The majority of my flying is in Lazairs where you have to be on the pedals way more than a Kitfox. With clunky boots or stiff shoes you could easily loose it as it's harder to dance on the pedals at those critical moments. Glad to hear damage was limited !

Loved the steam train noise on the apre loop taxi. 🚁💨💨💨💨💨💨

Any chance you might be willing to let me use this clip in a video? I am making a video about ground loops and I could use a clip like this. I'd give credit to you in the description

What was he doing with the stick? You can’t leave it neutral. Pull it back into your stomach so the tailwheel is planted, then stay active on the rudder pedals all the way to the moment you’re stopped.

Most of my time is in taildraggers. Even though I have never had a ground loop, it can be an easy thing to have happen. You did just fine my friend.

Any landing you can walk away from -is a good Landing 👍

"Clean up on Aisle 05. Somebody get a mop, toilet paper, and a new shopping cart wheel."

Lots of grass around there.. I think I would opt for the grass especially if you have stock narrow gear. But you are ok and your plane was driven away.. all good

That’s a nice sounding tail wheel noise

Bit of clickbait putting the word, crash, in the title.

thank you for sharing this captain !

Any landing you can walk away from is a fantastic landing. 2 types of tail dragger pilots - those that have and those that still going to. Same applies to stock cars and race cars but about the wall.

I have pulled myself out of beginning ground loops by adding a shot of power. Landing a taildragger is a bit like pushing a piece of string.

Thanks! My flight instructor destroyed my plane by ground looping if. A bitter lesson indeed.

Not a bad loop, and I see the wing didn't hit the ground. Good on you. It's easy to do. I built a Kitox IV-1200, and the factory gear, aside from being too narrow and with the extremely tight bungees, had NO damping effect except the tires. Turns out it was also warped from the factory and was severely toed-in. I ground-looped it one time, and after checking the toe-in, decided to buy a Grove gear. It was much wider and had 5-6 inches of "give." After flying the original gear, it seemed like it had auto-land. Consider that, and your life will be good.

Pilot : ground loop ? O no I was practicing celebrating my first NASCAR win !

That was a cool maneuver. Don't know how the tower would feel about it, but you could switch direction really quick. I like it.

I know these aircraft have had a problem with one of the bolts breaking in the tail wheel steering mechanism, so I wonder is this is one of those events?

I’m still looking for a kitfox pilot who can fly. We’ve got two at my airport and we always run out of the hangar to watch the landings.

Its amazing how quickly things get out of control.

Man that thing corners pretty good.

keep you stick in your belly soon as wheel touches ground.....taildragger!! Very nice approach and final btw!

First thing you do after a ground loop, did anyone see it happen ?

My first 200+ hours were on a Super Cub. I remember making many more practice landings than flying hours. Fortunately I flew from an aerodrome were landings were free, so it wasn't unusual when I practiced some 20 landings as part of a 1 hour solo training flight. I'm still part of the tail dragger pilot team that haven't made a ground loop.

I have owned a J3 Cub for almost two years. At first I would fly it only on dead calm days, but with more practice, I have flown it in some fairly high winds, like gusting to 16 knots. I usually do wheel landings, I believe you have more control and can see the runway better. The trouble comes in the transition to tail wheel down, things can get out of hand if you aren't very careful. My Cub has tried to exit the runway before I wanted to a few times but I kept it on. I have made at least one go around where if I had not, I would have taken out a runway light. I don't know about Kit Foxes, that looked pretty hairy and the wind didn't look that bad. Hope you didn't do any damage, keep at it don't let the plane fly you.

1:28 The "I hope no one saw that" look.

Whooops ! Sounded like a choo choo train taxing back ..... 😁

Once you're three point that stick HAS TO BE full Up Elevator... or you'll ground loop.

Wouldn’t be the first tail dragger doing a quick 360 after what looked like a pretty nice touchdown Remember: rudder is your best friend in these - whilst a tricycle undercarriage in like a Cessna172 forgives lazy feet, a tail dragger will teach you what your feet are there for 👍🏻😊

Richard Bach of “Jonathon Livingston Seagull” fame. Flew late 1950 Jet aircraft, etc. If my memory is correct, he bought a taildragger after leaving military service... and ground looped his first landing. So...you’re in good aviation company. I’ve flown a couple of larger taildragger airplanes with lockable tail wheels. They worked great. But I can’t honestly say I know about their disadvantages in small airplanes. There must be some or they all would have lockable tail wheels. Any one who knows, please enlighten me.

Too much energy after landing, allow the aircraft to reach balance?

I had problems landing my Kitfox model 4 and discovered that the factory gear was warped - toed-in quite a bit. It was really a handful. I switched for a Grove landing gear and it was like having Autoland installed. Looks like you have the spring gear, though.

Kit fox is prone to ground loops,, proper stick input was not applied and rudder and brakes must be very closely monitored to hopefully stop a ground loop in any aircraft especially a Kitfox. Glad that there didn’t appear to be any damage to the aircraft.

Wheel it on, check your stick forward holding the tail up, keep it razor straight. When your tail starts dropping, balance with brakes and let the tail down, all the while bleeding off energy, this keeps your main wing at a neutral angle of attack. Way more control, no “P factor” trying to put the tail down early keeping weight on your mains for braking.👍👍

Pedal Pedal pedal! Like your riding a bike! I’ve been sideways too! Haha

Been there done that. You can say what you want about the design but that is the way they were built. Mine was not enough hours on the stick. I ground looped a citabria not fun. If you are proficient in a tail dragger you have my respect. Better bush planes. I miss flying so damn expensive.

Don’t feel bad. That happened to me in an Aeronca once when the tail came unlocked.

Airspeed is nearly bled off when the tail starts to move right. So, comments about landing too fast are wrong. Once tail begins to move laterally, the CG begins to move from where it should be, between and rear of mains, to forward and to one side of mains. Aircraft then pirouettes on the mains because CG is moving out front of the mains and to one side. This forward CG swings the tail opposite of where the CG has moved in the front. So, in this G-loop, the CG is moving forward of the mains in counter clockwise motion, to the left. The CG pulls the tail around with the mains as center of fulcrum, getting up on one leg as CG actually moves up as loop speed increases. Like an ice skater increasing spin by moving arms up. Stick is not back, can't see the rudder movement. Thinking need to keep full back on stick, right rudder, neutral ailerons. Keep working the rudder to keep the CG centered and aft of the mains. Nice video, good teacher.

I could not keep my eyes off the way he is holding the throttle like a potato. I was taught from beginning to keep the forefinger on the throttle shaft at the firewall. Then you can feel even slight movements. That was wierd.

Any damage?

As my Dutch lady trainer used to say in her accent MORE wudda MORE wudda!!

Stick was not held back. Tail was flopping all over the place. Very sloppy and no surprise that he groundlooped

Did his tail wheel blow out? The tail seems to bump and skip, then starts banging then skidding. His taxi afterwards sounds like he's dragging a flat. Is blowing out the tail tire a common thing on draggers?

I thought KitFoxs were supposed to ground loop?

Where is the crash? May be you work for CNN? Anyways, good thing wing did not hit the ground. Was a mild ground loop, happy flying.

Looks like a fun plane to fly!

hi Olle, sadly you were always going to have a groundloop,if you have any taildragger it will get you one day and as I have flown kitox 2 and 3 I can speak from long experience, happily it was only minor damage,you post very good video's,cheers mike

The landing is not complete with any tail dragger until the aircraft is in the hangar and youve gone home C185 are the biggest handfull ive experienced A tricycle undercart pretty much lands its self You can never lose concentration for a second landing a tailwheel especially in a xwind

Putting the little wheel on the ground is always a sporty moment. I find it easier to fly slow than taxi fast, so I always 3-point. Regardless, land exactly straight - accept no drift - and on centerline, and once that tailwheel is on the ground, full aft stick.

Yes I see it can happen fast thanks for posting people can learn that are open to it. The ones that thumbs down just ignore as more than likely they are trolls.

Constructive criticism from an aged tail wheel pilot. Look at your airspeed as you cross the numbers and the resultant float once over the runway. Your final approach is flown to fast, to high for such a light and sensitive airplane. Tighten up your pattern, keep your airspeed at stall plus 10%. Once the mains touch, keep the ailerons and rudder into the wind if you’re in a crosswind ... no matter how slight.

Tailwheel pilot here as well, just a casual observation, the pilot was still at flying speed at touchdown, which is fine for a wheel landing, but if you do a wheel landing, the stick goes forward to stick the landing Anna keep the plane on the asphalt Also, it seemed that you were already headed to the weeds to the left instead of keeping it straight I know it sounds like a criticism, but it’s just an observation. I’m sure I’ll ground loop mine at some point…. We all do

Wow what happened ? Too much speed at flare and stick not held fully back ? Gust of wind ? Grabbing brake ? Or just lost it for undetermined reasons ? Any wingtip or gear damage ?

Why is he trying to steer with the stick on the ground? That's what the pedals are for.

This boy needs to learn the tail dragger two step and what the rudder pedals are for lol.

keep it on the mains until the speed as deteriorated, then stick all the way back and on tarmac small rudder inputs... if tail draggers were easy... we'd all fly tricycle....

Hi Olle, I have Kitfox IV and fly it a lot. I won't discuss ground loops since it might jinx me :). However I like your iPad mount on the overhead. Great idea. I'll look into it. Regards, John

I didn't see the pilot suck the stick back to plant the tailwheel----that would have given him steering authority. With the tailwheel off the runway (or lightly touching it) the rudder doesn't have prop blast nor enough air blowing over it to maintain centerline direction alone.

I've been flying for decades, now retired, and have to admit never having flown a tail-dragger but on the approach 8-900 fpm and 55-60 kts in a little light a/c looked like an unstable approach as was a 55kt touchdown. We trained in the 80's in PA28s, (Gross wt approx. 2000lbs), RoD was taught at 300 fpm on approach and cross the threshold at

Nice save! Been there, done that!

"Goin, to the rodeo'...lol. Thanks for posting.

Good Job, landing and parking all at once!

I didn't see a "crash," ground loop yes, but no "crash."

That's always been a problem with "Tail Draggers". Back in the 70's I was sitting as a "guest co-pilot" with a guy I knew. He was flying a quick run from Cleveland Hopkins Airport to Detroit to pick up a much needed part for the Ford Plant in Cleveland. The plant was right next to the airport in Cleveland and he asked me if I wanted to come along for the ride. The plane was a old Beach. Kinda like the one used in the movie Casablanca. I had my instrument rating and multi engine and was glad to tag along. He let me fly it once we got air born. The plan was to do a "hot turn" on the ground in Detroit and head right back to Cleveland. When we arrived they were waiting for us. We didn't even get out of our seats. We just pulled up, they loaded the plane, some papers were signed, and we left with the part. When we contacted approach control for Cleveland Hopkins Airport, he let me continue to fly the aircraft and follow the air traffic control orders and he handled the radio. On final he asked me if I wanted to land it. I quickly said NO, but did take it down right to the ground where he took over. I am sure I would've spun that thing if left on my own.

I remember being asked by my passenger "Did we crash?" after a foot-high bounce in a Jodel. Comes to show that all my previous landings with that person, must have been quite smooth. I thought "Next time I will show you how a real bounce feels, with teeth fillings falling out.". Some people do ground loops, for fun, as long as the landing gear can take it.

I'm glad there was no real damage or injury.

Need touchdown with that stick all the way back when you begin with tailweel sir, get all the energy out the system and there is nothing left to ground loop with. Wheelie roll on landings can come later! Glad it looked like just a scuffed wing tip.

I am an "ex" kitfox owner.... lots of comments about using the "rudder".... no mention of using the wheel brakes - which is essential to "back uo" the rudder as the airspeed bleeds off during the roll-out.

Clickbait title That being said, glad you’re OK

As someone already commented it's obvious that the tail wheel was the culprit. Soon as it hits, you hear it, the plane loops.

Did the kit not come with a rudder?

I currently have a KF4 Classic. Hard to tell what caused this guy to appear to land centerline then veer off left. The only thing I noticed was the stick wasn't pulled all the way back and maintaining directional control with the tailwheel would have been impossible.He seems to be moving the stick everywhere but hard back in the video. Glad the planes ok.

Good job handling a near catastrophe. 👍🏻🇺🇸