As a licensed pilot, have you ever wondered why pilots who fly tailwheel airplanes are always smiling? While the FAA requires additional training to earn a tail wheel endorsement, those who master the requisite skills never look back from this fun, rewarding adventure. Now, seasoned flight instructor Jim Alsip delivers Flying the Tail Wheel Airplane: Stick and Rudder Skills for All Pilots. With numerous photographs, diagrams, and concise key points, this accessible, expert resource is certain to chart any pilot's course to achieving his or her tail wheel endorsement. In clear, comprehensible instruction, Alsip goes beyond the basic step-by-step approach of many aviation books to guide readers through the requisite flying skills and information on "specific tailwheel subjects." In doing so, he stresses the significance of mastering the necessary stick and rudder skills that have eluded many licensed pilots during their basic pilot training.. Comparing a good pilot to a conductor of an orchestra, Alsip explains that it is the pilot's job to direct the airplane's performance in regards to airspeed, altitude, heading, and constant rate of turn, and then allow the airplane to perform, to fly, the maneuver. Flying the Tail Wheel Airplane: Stick and Rudder Skills for All Pilots is structured as a seven-lesson syllabus for tailwheel transition. In the first chapter, Alsip reviews the basic principles of flight, and explores the pilot's relationship to the airplane. He then describes four skill-building maneuvers that are applicable to all pilots flying any kind of airplane, and in chapter three, discusses the science behind the skills that characterize the quintessential tail wheel pilot. From there, the guide details the flying skills fundamental to earning a tail wheel endorsement: landing pattern, slips, three point landings and wheel landings. Finally, Alsip covers how to handle a tailwheel airplane when the wind blows, an ability that distinguishes a "good stick," a skilled pilot. By identifying the causes of weak pilot skills and addressing those weaknesses with techniques and a practice regimen, any pilot can increase his/her skill in the use of an airplane's controls. Flying the Tailwheel Airplane: Stick and Rudder Skills for All Pilots offers a clear and steady training guide for any pilot who wants to change the way they fly-and in doing so, become a safer pilot that has a lot more fun.