Short answer: Yes. Not one, but several. A taildragger configuration for modern airplanes comes with several disadvantages:
- Visibility during taxiing is much worse.
Visibility while taxiing is a safety-relevant issue (Picture source)
- Braking hard will result in a headstand. And with today's landing speeds, braking hard is needed if you want to fly from standard length runways. Carrier-borne aircraft were the first to feel this consequence of increasing landing speeds, so they converted first to tricycle gears.
That is what is colloquially called a "headstand" (Picture source)
- Loading and unloading will become more complicated. The current way of sliding containers manually on a flat deck would need to be replaced by internal winches pulling the containers up the ramp to the door.
- Drag during ground roll is much higher as long as tail lift is not sufficient to get the tail up. Take-off distances would also become longer.
In short, it comes down to minimizing field lengths and increasing safety.
Who says there are no taildragger airliners? (Picture source)
