Air camping and scooters

CharlieD3

CharlieD3

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CharlieD3
Two curiosity questions.

Has anyone here ever used a tent that uses the wing of a Cessna (typically) or other high wing as the roof of the tent?

Has anyone here ever used a folding scooter like the old Honda 70s/90s that were modified.. or the newer DiBlasio fold up scooters in their aircraft for those out of the way places that don't have courtesy cars? Related: do you also transport fuel? Is it safe/legal to do so?
 
I see many people at Oshkosh who throw a tarp of a Cessna's wing to use as shelter. You'd need a bit more to turn it into a tent, but I think it is doable.

If I was looking for "last 3 mile transportation" I'd look at e-scooters. Alternately, you could use fuel from the airplane's sump, but I wouldn't fly fueled scooters in my airplane, so (for me) I'd have to de-fuel them before departing.
 
I personally would use a Montague style folding bicycle and call it a day. You aren't taking a Honda 70 anyplace you couldn't take a mountain bike.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I personally would use a Montague style folding bicycle and call it a day. You aren't taking a Honda 70 anyplace you couldn't take a mountain bike.
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At 64 I'd take a scooter plenty of places I couldn't take a mountain bike. And faster, too!
 
I bought a Jupiter Bike for my LSA. While it would fit in the passenger seat, it’s really meant for lighter riders, and it’s range (about 5 - 10 miles) is not great, and it’s wheels are too small to make it over anything but clean, paved roads and sidewalks. But if you’re under 200 pounds and just need it for smooth, paved roads, it works pretty well. If not (like me) a skateboard is your friend (and they have e-versions of those too.)
 
I got a Switch E-Bike kit for my Tern folding bicycle. I've used the folder a few times for transit, just load my luggage into panniers... Problem is I still don't have a working plane to try the electric bit in, but it worked nice for the 2 mile trip to the airport to test it.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Two curiosity questions.

Has anyone here ever used a tent that uses the wing of a Cessna (typically) or other high wing as the roof of the tent?

Has anyone here ever used a folding scooter like the old Honda 70s/90s that were modified.. or the newer DiBlasio fold up scooters in their aircraft for those out of the way places that don't have courtesy cars? Related: do you also transport fuel? Is it safe/legal to do so?
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Tarp over the wing is pretty common with the high wing Cessnas. One year at Oshkosh I saw a 210 owner in the next row with a nice setup; he had an awning manufacturer make a custom tent for him with zipper-on end panels that "sandwiched" the wing. But he did say it got warm in there very quickly on a sunny day.

I'm with @Sac Arrow on the bike thing. I won't transport liquid or gaseous fuel of any kind inside the fuselage of the plane. And the problem I have with electric is there's often no place to plug in for recharge at an airfield camping location.
 
GRG55 said:
Tarp over the wing is pretty common with the high wing Cessnas. One year at Oshkosh I saw a 210 owner in the next row with a nice setup; he had an awning manufacturer make a custom tent for him with zipper-on end panels that "sandwiched" the wing. But he did say it got warm in there very quickly on a sunny day.

I'm with @Sac Arrow on the bike thing. I won't transport liquid or gaseous fuel of any kind inside the fuselage of the plane. And the problem I have with electric is there's often no place to plug in for recharge at an airfield camping location.
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Well, I understand the concerns about transporting fuel in a plane's fuselage. But many GA aircraft and some LSA's have fuel in the fuselage. Navions had an aux tank under the rear seats IIRC, and IIRC the Europa aircraft had an aux in the luggage area. The folding Honda 90s and 70s were a popular thing back when I was active... but I don't know if folks carried them fueled or not. But they weighed 188LBs.

The other one I mentioned, the DiBlasi weighs 64Lbs... they have an electric model that weighs 77... But the gas unit is 2 AMU$, that's a lot of UBER/LYFT rides... but not at out of the way places....

The planetent looks interesting... @ $299 pretty reasonable, no poles, weighs ~8 lbs., double layer, waterproof floor.And it's guaranteed to fit almost any highwing (except Cubs...).
planetent.JPG
 
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While the tank on a scooter probably isn't designed to carry fuel and not leak at altitude. The bottles for camping stoves are since they're designed to be pressurized in use far higher than the differential pressure at altitude. Of course, this is how I carry fuel for my camp stove in the plane. I'm more worried about my giant 400Wh Lithium battery really.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Well, I understand the concerns about transporting fuel in a plane's fuselage. But many GA aircraft ans some LSA's have fuel in the fuselage. Navions had an aux tank under the rear seats IIRC, and IIRC the Europa aircraft had an aux in the luggage area...
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I am well aware there are airplanes that were build with header tanks ahead of the instrument panel and/or fuselage fuel tanks. I have not, and will not own one of those. Just a matter of personal choice. In fact I am not all that happy about the fuel indicator tubes that project into the cabin area at the wing roots of my Husky. YMMV.[/QUOTE]
 
$2K for this:

scooter.JPG

I've sent them an email regarding the "leakproofness" of their tank @ altitude... Though they claim it will run on leaded gas at higher octane... like 110 LL... asked them about that, too.
 
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When I did Oshkosh with the 172, I through a tarp over the wing but still pitched the tent under the wing and the tarp. Gave extra shade/protection.

WagAero used to make a tent called the "Wing-a-bago" that slid over a cub wing.
 
ktup-flyer said:
Find a Honda Motocompo
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Yeah, they're going for upwards of 5 AMU$ I should buy 2... but I'd have to get a plane first, and my medical before that, and a place to hangar the plane and.... sigh...

It's all just pipe dreams anyway... But

I. Will. Fly. Again.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Yeah, they're going for upwards of 5 AMU$ I should buy 2... but I'd have to get a plane first, and my medical before that, and a place to hangar the plane and.... sigh...

It's all just pipe dreams anyway... But

I. Will. Fly. Again.
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It would appreciate, unlike pretty much anything else you could fit in a plane
 
ktup-flyer said:
It would appreciate, unlike pretty much anything else you could fit in a plane
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Probably so... hadn't thought of that... I should buy all of the available ones (cornering the market) and keep them for a year and sell them one at a time, I could then buy a plane.... oh wait.... LOL
 
CharlieD3 said:
I've sent them an email regarding the "leakproofness" of their tank @ altitude... Though they claim it will run on leaded gas at higher octane... like 110 LL... asked them about that, too.
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Maybe no need to figure out if the tank is leak-proof if it can run on 100LL. If so, just drain some fuel from the wing tanks to fill the bike.
 
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