Champion 7JC Sheldon Kongable Gone West

jnmeade

jnmeade

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Jim Meade
Sheldon Kongable of Winfield Iowa, active in International Flying Farmers and Associated Pilots of Iowa, owned a C182 and a Champion 7JC, N610WA, one of five in the FAA data base. Kongable died in March, 2014.
He used to host a Memorial Day fly-in breakfast at his farm and a number of us have flown in there over the years.
Sheldon was older and had been in ill-health for years, thus hadn't flown much. I have no idea of the condition of the airplane, though I was told recently that it was in annual.
Sheldon was a nice guy with an unusual plane. Tail Winds, Sheldon.
 
I don't know the total number of 7JC's that were produced but it probably wasn't many and I would think that even though five may still be currently listed in the FAA database it doesn't mean that any of them remain in the original configuration and weren't modified to 7EC specs. I own a 7FC which was originally a tricycle gear but, as is the case with most, it was converted long ago to the 7EC conventional gear configuration. It does however remain registered as a 7FC.

The 7JC was probably the oddest of a string of oddities from Champion and if Sheldon's remained unmodified it's quite possible it may be the only one. There certainly was never any compelling reason for anyone to keep one original but if so it would certainly be unique.

aeronca_7jc_4_144.jpg
 
Silvaire said:
I don't know the total number of 7JC's that were produced but it probably wasn't many and I would think that even though five may still be currently listed in the FAA database it doesn't mean that any of them remain in the original configuration and weren't modified to 7EC specs. I own a 7FC which was originally a tricycle gear but, as is the case with most, it was converted long ago to the 7EC conventional gear configuration. It does however remain registered as a 7FC.

The 7JC was probably the oddest of a string of oddities from Champion and if Sheldon's remained unmodified it's quite possible it may be the only one. There certainly was never any compelling reason for anyone to keep one original but if so it would certainly be unique.

aeronca_7jc_4_144.jpg
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It appears that the above photo was taken at the St Paul airport in front of the administration building. I believe that Champion was briefly based at St Paul before they moved to Osceola WI.
 
I always thought that was an interesting gear design, I wouldn't mind trying it out to see how it works.
 
When I saw Sheldon's 4-5 years ago, it was still in it's original form.
 
Henning said:
I always thought that was an interesting gear design, I wouldn't mind trying it out to see how it works.
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Given the short production it probably didn't work very well. The tri-geared 7FC was prone to flipping over when making a sharp turn like a kids tricycle, this happened to my airplane about six months after it rolled off the factory floor and I think it happened at least two more times before someone finally got wise, pulled the nose gear off and put a tailwheel on it. The 7JC looks suspiciously like a design that was conceived to get rid of an inventory of nose wheels left over after the 7FC design was abandoned.

Like I said, Champion came up with some pretty bizarre design concepts in the early 60's the ultimate probably being the twin engined Lancer 402. Meant to be a cheap multi-engine trainer it had a yoke in the front seat and a stick in the back and despite having fixed pitch props and fixed gear it actually had fake gear and propeller controls a student could play with.

Again, not many of them produced but there are still a couple of them left somewhere.

champ-402.jpg
 
Silvaire said:
Like I said, Champion came up with some pretty bizarre design concepts in the early 60's the ultimate probably being the twin engined Lancer 402. Meant to be a cheap multi-engine trainer it had a yoke in the front seat and a stick in the back and despite having fixed pitch props and fixed gear it actually had fake gear and propeller controls a student could play with.

Again, not many of them produced but there are still a couple of them left somewhere.
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I've always kind of wanted a Lancer just because they are so odd. I can't bring myself to spend the kind of money required to buy one just for the novelty though. I suppose it would be a cheap way to build some multi hours if a person needed the time.

There's a Lancer project that pops up from time to time on Barnstormers. Apparently nobody wants one since this one has been for sale for at least two years now.
 
mondtster said:
I've always kind of wanted a Lancer just because they are so odd. I can't bring myself to spend the kind of money required to buy one just for the novelty though. I suppose it would be a cheap way to build some multi hours if a person needed the time.

There's a Lancer project that pops up from time to time on Barnstormers. Apparently nobody wants one since this one has been for sale for at least two years now.
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Hmmm, next time you see it, post it, I'd like to know who has it and if it's Al Martin's old one. He kept threatening that we'd assemble it, but more valuable projects always came up.
 
Henning said:
Hmmm, next time you see it, post it, I'd like to know who has it and if it's Al Martin's old one. He kept threatening that we'd assemble it, but more valuable projects always came up.
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I think it is owned by a guy in Minnesota. I haven't paid that close attention to the location though. I don't know if there was a registration number in any of the ads, the fabric work appeared to be done and in primer so no registration number was on the side of the plane.

I'll post it or PM you when I see it again.
 
mondtster said:
I think it is owned by a guy in Minnesota. I haven't paid that close attention to the location though. I don't know if there was a registration number in any of the ads, the fabric work appeared to be done and in primer so no registration number was on the side of the plane.

I'll post it or PM you when I see it again.
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Al had friends in the basket case/rebuild industry across the country, it could have gone anywhere. I'll just call the ad and find out, they may know or have some of the rest f the collection, a couple of bits I wouldn't mind having.
 
mondtster said:
I think it is owned by a guy in Minnesota. I haven't paid that close attention to the location though. I don't know if there was a registration number in any of the ads, the fabric work appeared to be done and in primer so no registration number was on the side of the plane.

I'll post it or PM you when I see it again.
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Sounds like the one I saw some years ago in Milaca Minnesota, 18Y, a small grass strip about 50 miles NNW of the Twin Cities.
The plane is N9955Y.
 
champ driver said:
Sounds like the one I saw some years ago in Milaca Minnesota, 18Y, a small grass strip about 50 miles NNW of the Twin Cities.
The plane is N9955Y.
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Was it assembled/had fabric, or was a true 'basket case' of parts and assemblies?
 
I believe it was 10 years ago and I think the fuselage was on it's gear but the rest was pieces of plane that were covered at the time. I only got a short look at it and didn't take any photos, I just checked.
 
champ driver said:
I believe it was 10 years ago and I think the fuselage was on it's gear but the rest was pieces of plane that were covered at the time. I only got a short look at it and didn't take any photos, I just checked.
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Ok, thanks, that would not be the one.
 
mondtster said:
I...I suppose it would be a cheap way to build some multi hours if a person needed the time...
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I can't say for certain if it's true but I read somewhere that one of the reasons for the Lancer's ultimate market flop was the FAA deeming that a ME rating obtained in a Lancer was only good for flying a Lancer and nothing else. A restriction similar to the Skymaster in-line thrust one.
 
Silvaire said:
I can't say for certain if it's true but I read somewhere that one of the reasons for the Lancer's ultimate market flop was the FAA deeming that a ME rating obtained in a Lancer was only good for flying a Lancer and nothing else. A restriction similar to the Skymaster in-line thrust one.
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That wouldn't surprise me, but assuming you already had the multi rating the hours would still count like normal, no? :dunno:

Assuming you burned about 10gph and had 172 speeds it would probably be the cheapest way to gain multi time you could get.
 
mondtster said:
Assuming you burned about 10gph and had 172 speeds it would probably be the cheapest way to gain multi time you could get.
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More like 10 gph for C-150 speeds, maybe 104 KTAS.

Barry Schiff has a nice write-up on the Lancer in his book, Dream Aircraft. He says, "Cockpit visibility is not bad; it is miserable. [...] It is a safe bet that whoever designed the Lancer used to design horse blinders."

He says the airplane will descend at 250 fpm with one windmilling and the other at full power - at sea level. Your best shot at staying in the air OEI is to pull the good engine to idle and stall the airplane so that the dead engine stops windmilling, then return power to the good engine.
 
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