Caravan Undifferentiated
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 105; Flight Crew Total 3715; Flight Crew Type 1900
Situational Awareness; Other / Unknown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Human Factors
After loading plane; during final outside check of airplane before boarding; I had failed to notice; remove; and stow the tail stand (required safety equipment used to prevent a tail heavy load from setting the plane on its tail).During flight I noticed my cruise speed was about 3 to 5 kts slower than usual and noticed a slight and subtle pitch oscillation not resulting in altitude change. The only thing I could think that might cause this was flying with the tail stand still installed which creates a small amount of drag. While there is only a slight possibility of the tail stand coming off as a result of a hard landing (the design of the stand is made to be able to take off; fly; and land with it because of a safety wire latch on the installation bolt prevents it from coming loose); I; none-the-less took every precaution to make the smoothest landing and use a smooth slow deceleration so as to prevent the possibility of the stand coming off.  After landing; I exited a taxiway that is seldom used; contacted ground to inform them I needed to shut my engine off and get out of the plane to check if I had left my tail stand installed and then stow it if I had. They sent two airport maintenance trucks over to assist. When I got out; I discovered indeed I had left it installed but thankfully it was still there and I removed and stowed it before taxiing to the cargo ramp.During the night; the plane was inspected and confirmed there was no damage to plane or stand. Normally I leave the rear cargo pod door open where I stow the tail stand so that I won't forget to stow it. I'm thinking I may have opened and closed it as I do the others. To prevent this from happening again; I will be leaving all the pod doors open while loading and then close all after stowing as the last item of the final check before boarding the plane.
Cessna Caravan pilot reported failure to remove the tail stand before flight.