Time to Fly Again, Taildragger style!

[W P Dixon]

Hi gang,
Well here in just a few hours I will make my trip to Ohio to fly the
Champ again. 6.2 hours in it now and hope to add alot to it Sunday and
Monday. Drive at least most the trip tonight and hopefully my legs will
still be ready to do some serious rudder work! ;) Wife usually drives me,
but she has to work Monday so I'll be on my own. I hope I get to solo..but
it's been awhile since I got to fly last so I am not sure if the CFI will
sign me off for it this weekend or not.
Last weekend I went flying in a friends Cub here in Tennessee. I was in
the front seat and I have to say I was not comfie in the front of the Cub.
Really cramped, and I'm not that tall! It was a definite difference in
rudder control being so tight in the front seat , I would imagine it is just
one of those things you'd get used to. When I get checked out and solo the
Champ I will get checked out in their Cub..from the back seat! Alot more
room back there!
But I was glad to get back in the air again, and it didn't cost a
fortune ,just helped out on gas and we flew around awhile. So I at least
have a feel of how a Cub will fly and handle. I'd chose a Champ
myself...better vision, more leg room. But hey flying any plane beats
sitting on the ground doesn't it? ;) Interested in hearing about why the Cub
is so popular , they sell for a high price considering what they are, and my
experience so far is the Champ is a better plane. Cub fans tell me what I am
missing!

--
Patrick Dixon
student SP
aircraft structural mech

[Cub Driver]

On Sat, 1 Oct 2005 15:23:07 -0400, "W P Dixon"
> wrote:

> Well here in just a few hours I will make my trip to Ohio to fly the
>Champ again. 6.2 hours in it now and hope to add alot to it Sunday and
>Monday. Drive at least most the trip tonight

Good grief, that's devotion! Isn't there anything closer to home?
Maybe you should consider taking a week's vacation somewhere you can
get a block of flight time.

> Last weekend I went flying in a friends Cub here in Tennessee. I was in
>the front seat and I have to say I was not comfie in the front of the Cub.

I wouldn't know! I have over 300 hours in J-3s/L-4s and I've never
been in the front seat. (I have flown a PA-18 from the front. It was
fine.)

My instructors never complained, and there's a guy at Hampton Airfield
who regularly rents the Cubs (apart from me, about the only one with a
serious habit--all the others are students, taildragger transitions,
and instuctors), and he sits in front if he can get a passenger.

>Really cramped, and I'm not that tall! It was a definite difference in
>rudder control being so tight in the front seat , I would imagine it is just
>one of those things you'd get used to. When I get checked out and solo the

Possibly. Could be also that the J-3 you were in is different in some
respect.

>have a feel of how a Cub will fly and handle. I'd chose a Champ
>myself...better vision, more leg room

Two lads from Hampton Airfield flew a Champ cross-country (and back :)
in partial emulation of Rinker Buck's wonderful "Flight of Passage".
When they mentioned that Buck inspired them to make the flight, I
wondered if they'd noticed the line in his book where his brother
comes back from a flight in thelesser plane and says to Rink: "Champs
suck."


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com

[Cub Driver]

On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 07:01:32 -0400, Cub Driver
> wrote:

>> Last weekend I went flying in a friends Cub here in Tennessee. I was in
>>the front seat and I have to say I was not comfie in the front of the Cub.
>
>I wouldn't know! I have over 300 hours in J-3s/L-4s and I've never
>been in the front seat. (I have flown a PA-18 from the front. It was
>fine.)

A followup on this: there's a thread on the Piper Cub Builders list
(at Yahoo) about soloing from the front seat. The consensus is that
not only is flying from the rear seat safer (indeed, mandatory in most
Cubs) but also that there's more room and a better view.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com

[W P Dixon]

I think the Cub would be alot better from the back . I agree they should be
soloed from the back seat. But on this flight I had to sit in the front
since the back seat was taken! ;)
As for the Cub/Champ debate....I hear that alot of cub pilots say their
plane flies like a Champ! hee hee That was told to me by an Aeronca fan of
course;)
I didn't solo this weekend but I had a great time , instructor wanted me
to go ahead and do spin training before I solo. So that was a blast needless
to say! For the solo...hmmm maybe the first weekend in November? That's my
next trip to Ohio..weather and health permitting.

Patrick
student SP
aircraft structural mech

"Cub Driver" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 07:01:32 -0400, Cub Driver
> > wrote:
>
>>> Last weekend I went flying in a friends Cub here in Tennessee. I was
>>> in
>>>the front seat and I have to say I was not comfie in the front of the
>>>Cub.
>>
>>I wouldn't know! I have over 300 hours in J-3s/L-4s and I've never
>>been in the front seat. (I have flown a PA-18 from the front. It was
>>fine.)
>
> A followup on this: there's a thread on the Piper Cub Builders list
> (at Yahoo) about soloing from the front seat. The consensus is that
> not only is flying from the rear seat safer (indeed, mandatory in most
> Cubs) but also that there's more room and a better view.
>
>
> -- all the best, Dan Ford
>
> email (put Cubdriver in subject line)
>
> Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
> Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
> the blog: www.danford.net
> In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com