I have flown the L-19 as a glider tow pilot for 7 years with thousands of strong crosswind landings. At our airport we have been operating them for over 35 years. The number of hours you fly is not as important as how many landings you have made. Our tow pilots get about 8 landing per hour of flight time. So someone with 100 hours might have 800 landings. On the other hand if you fly 1 hour between landings you might have 100 landings in 100 hours. This airplane can be landed in a stall and on all three wheels at the same time (3 point) if there is no crosswind. Or you can wheel land it on the mains. Most ground loops happen in a B-dog if you try to 3 point it in a crosswind. In the tail down position the flaps blank the rudder and you have little directional control and all you have is differential braking to steer with. If you land on the upwind wheel and then put the downwind wheel on the ground in a level attitude you have good rudder control and can handle a lot of crosswind. Then keep the tail up as long as possible, and you will most likely still be under control when you stop. It is a lot of fun to fly, but will bite you in the @$$ if you let it. I sit in the back seat and let a new pilot do at least 75 landings before I say they have seen just about every trick this airplane will throw at you in a crosswind. It is nice to see that collectors are restoring them to warbird status and making them pretty. Glider towplanes are real dirty and look like they have been through Korea and Vetnam and never cleaned up. Ours went in service in 1981 as a towplane and has been working ever since and now has over 20,000 hours on the airframe and been through about 10 engines in that time and had the airframe rebuilt a few times. Someday I would like to fly a restored one that is clean and new looking. You have a real pretty one.
Thanks for the video...was with my father when he ground looped a Bird Dog years ago...however it was slow enough that he only did 360 on the runway, no damage. I own a Cessna 140, and plan to acquire a Bird Dog in about 150 more hours of Cessna tail dragger time...
You are welcome! I have now more than 1200 landings with the L19, but still follow the same procedures as spoken in this video. It’s still the same advice my dad gave me years ago....
I have flown the L-19 as a glider tow pilot for 7 years with thousands of strong crosswind landings. At our airport we have been operating them for over 35 years. The number of hours you fly is not as important as how many landings you have made. Our tow pilots get about 8 landing per hour of flight time. So someone with 100 hours might have 800 landings. On the other hand if you fly 1 hour between landings you might have 100 landings in 100 hours.
This airplane can be landed in a stall and on all three wheels at the same time (3 point) if there is no crosswind. Or you can wheel land it on the mains. Most ground loops happen in a B-dog if you try to 3 point it in a crosswind. In the tail down position the flaps blank the rudder and you have little directional control and all you have is differential braking to steer with. If you land on the upwind wheel and then put the downwind wheel on the ground in a level attitude you have good rudder control and can handle a lot of crosswind. Then keep the tail up as long as possible, and you will most likely still be under control when you stop.
It is a lot of fun to fly, but will bite you in the @$$ if you let it. I sit in the back seat and let a new pilot do at least 75 landings before I say they have seen just about every trick this airplane will throw at you in a crosswind.
It is nice to see that collectors are restoring them to warbird status and making them pretty. Glider towplanes are real dirty and look like they have been through Korea and Vetnam and never cleaned up. Ours went in service in 1981 as a towplane and has been working ever since and now has over 20,000 hours on the airframe and been through about 10 engines in that time and had the airframe rebuilt a few times.
Someday I would like to fly a restored one that is clean and new looking. You have a real pretty one.
Spiral diving those from a high tow/release is the funniest ;-)
Thank you. Good tips for any taildragger landing
My brother in law had 2 years in Nam flying a bird dog. We ground looped once did a 360, no damage. It can bite you in gusty wind.
John Elliott thx for your comment. Even a Vietnam veteran who flew the Bird Dog groundlooped.... yes on ground it’s a beast
Much appreciated Fred👌👌
Thanks for a great video Fred!
Very informative video. Great job thanks for the information.
Thanks for the video...was with my father when he ground looped a Bird Dog years ago...however it was slow enough that he only did 360 on the runway, no damage. I own a Cessna 140, and plan to acquire a Bird Dog in about 150 more hours of Cessna tail dragger time...
Good job Fred! Nice video, excellent speech!
Thank you sir for the information
You are welcome! I have now more than 1200 landings with the L19, but still follow the same procedures as spoken in this video. It’s still the same advice my dad gave me years ago....
Wonderful video I wish to find flight instructor to teach me how to fly on this nice bird Cessna L19 O-1 Bird dog .
Great info!!
I'm looking to buy a bird dog. Do you know of any for sale in Europe?
Are you using an airliner seatbelt as a belt?
jjohnston94 ! You have excellent eyes! Yes ..... i bought it at pilotstore.at