I had exactly 170 hours when I bought my taildragger KR2, mostly on
Diamond Katana and Piper Cherokee. This was in South Africa, and local
rules required a taildragger endorsement and a type conversion. I found a
suitable instructor (himself rated on the type), but he wanted me to get
my taildragger rating on a more forgiving aircraft before starting the
conversion. I got 5 hours of Bellanca Superdecathlon time, then we started
the KR2 training. I must say I am a very average pilot, and I battled for
quite a while to get it right. After 7 hours of training with little
improvement, I started doing some solo high speed taxi training. This
taught me how to touch down properly. Then, I did some more flight
instruction, concentrating on holding the approach speed accurately. That
did the trick. In total, it took me 15 hours of flight instruction to feel
safe and comfortable in the KR2. But I am probably an extreme case, and
the difficult conditions in Johannesburg (hot, high and sometimes windy)
probably did not help. This being said, had I soloed earlier, I would
probably have survived the experience, but with a higher pucker factor.
Then, one day, a good 50 flight hours later, I noticed that I could keep
the altitude and heading accurately without thinking, and the balance ball
was now self-centering. The KR2 had just made me a better pilot. I could
"feel" the aircraft in a way that I had never experienced in any Cessna,
Piper, or even the Diamond Katana.
A C150, he said? Look, if I was offered a Cessna 150 tomorrow, I would
quickly sell it, and buy another high performance homebuilt with the
money.
Serge Vidal
KR2 "Kilimanjaro Cloud"
Canberra, Australia
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