I can feel it. The Luscombe itch. Soon, I'm gonna scratch it

D

docmirror

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Cowboy - yeehah!
What compels a reasonably sensible engineer to want to cram himself and his SO into a small metal noisy tube for several hours at a time?

I've sort of defaulted to a Luscombe because I want a metal fuselage. Gotta go LSA so that means the 8A model. I'm gonna be based at a 2500' grass field. Don't mind hand propping, mostly gonna just tootle around the area, and occasional xc about 600 miles. Not optimal, I know but it is what it is.
 
I love me a Luscombe!
There are some really nice 8As (with electricity, how decadent!) available for not a lot of money.

Good luck.
 
I'm thinkin no elec. Just a batt GPS and a handheld. I'll carry extra batt for my GPS and switch it on every half hour to check my DR steer.
 
Doc; call Phil Bergman over at 52F. He is ready to sell his Luscombe
 
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AggieMike88 said:
Doc; call Phil Bergman over at 52F. He is ready to sell his Luscombe
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K, Halfsies? That'll work out to less that $10k each. I'll even let you sit left side once in a while. :rofl:
 
Congrats!! And good choice on the no electrics, they fly much better when light


-VanDy
 
I circled around Luscombe for a while, then thought it would be too small, then I sat in alfadog's plane and renewed my interest in them. But eventually I understood that it would make a poor first airplane. If you own a Luscombe, you have to own a hangar full of spare parts, or else accept a significant downtime.

Eventually my wife talked me into bucking for keeping the 3rd. It's easier to shop for AME than to shop for Luscombe parts.
 
zaitcev said:
...If you own a Luscombe, you have to own a hangar full of spare parts, or else accept a significant downtime...
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Getting parts for a Luscombe has never been a problem. Univair, Wag-Aero and Aircraft Spruce carry most of the common stuff and The Luscombe Endowment has pretty much everything else you could think of.
 
Silvaire said:
Getting parts for a Luscombe has never been a problem. Univair, Wag-Aero and Aircraft Spruce carry most of the common stuff and The Luscombe Endowment has pretty much everything else you could think of.
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Uh - you forgot the U-made-it people. I hear they have a very large selection. :D

I'm pretty handy with making most stuff. If I were to need something really Luscombe specific and couldn't make it, I guess I'd check with Univair, I think they own the TC now?
 
docmirror said:
You gotta get out of NY and come-on down! yeeeehaaaa!
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I have an appointment to fly a brand new Luscombe-Silveraire

No intention of buying one. I did a guy a favor, and this is my reward. :D
I keep waiting for them to get the radial version out. That could tempt me into doing something really stupid.
 
Let's review:

round engine - burns more gas, burns more oil, leaks oil, slower plane, harder to find parts, weighs more.

Yeah, I'm hot for a radial too!?
 
my dad trained in a Luscombe in the 30s. I would love to fly one too, I understand your interest.
 
docmirror said:
Let's review:

round engine - burns more gas, burns more oil, leaks oil, slower plane, harder to find parts, weighs more.

Yeah, I'm hot for a radial too!?
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Rotax radial. The plane still qualifies as Light Sport.
Pretty sweet.
 
A professor and CFI of mine in college had one while I was there, and I got to fly safety pilot for him in the Luscombe now and then. He and some buddies bought a Luscombe while they were in college in the 50's, and in the early 90's AOPA put one on the cover and that got his gears turning...so he went and got another! Nice plane, although he had a successful engine-out on an XC and made it to airport safely. He took that opportunity to up-size to an O-200 and he really liked it.

I unfortunately at 6'1" and 200 +/- didn't really fit comfortably in it, and couldn't see outside very well with my head buried in the wing root. Otherwise, nice plane!
 
I saw the Rotec powered Luscombe at the Columbia CA fly-in about 3 or 4 years ago. I know it sorta "looks" like a Warner radial but it runs at 7600 rpm and let's just say the sounds it makes don't match the looks by any stretch of the imagination.

As for the LSA Luscombes, without getting into all of the dirt about the court battles for the TC and everything else about Renaissance Air other than to note that the website hasn't been updated since 2008 and most of the aircraft that were produced served mostly as the owners personal toys rather than anything you'd consider as being in production and available for purchase, I'd just say that it's kind of a mess.

But for owners of existing original Luscombes, such as myself, it's not any worse than dozens of other orphaned models from the 30's and 40's. There are actually a LOT of Luscombes around and many more hanging disassembled in the backs of hangars all over the country. They aren't in any danger of disappearing any time soon.
 
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I'ma going for an A-65 or A-75, or an A-65 that's tired so I can make it an A-75.

The only thing I might do is make some kinda Rube air generator I can clamp to the window giving me 3-4 amps, and maybe a small MC 12V batt. Don't want one of those big air gens that sit between the gear, I just want a little clamp on that I can toss out the window and screw down in case I need some amps for a while.

Mostly I'm gonna be solo, and I'm not very tall so even though they are tight inside, I can manage for 2.5-ish hours at a time.
 
Well, if I'm gonna go some longer distances, I'd like to keep my GPS up and be able to call for weather. Just any reason you would need a bit of juice while flying. I don't mind doing DR nav but having the modern stuff is pretty handy.
 
KSMooniac said:
I unfortunately at 6'1" and 200 +/- didn't really fit comfortably in it, and couldn't see outside very well with my head buried in the wing root. Otherwise, nice plane!
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Easy fix, before turning left, lift the left wing enough to see out! I catch myself doing it in the flight school's 172 and my instructor going WTF?



-VanDy
 
We installed a starter with no elec system in the L2. A gel battery cranks the starter and provides back-up for the hand-held stuff.
 
docmirror said:
What compels a reasonably sensible engineer to want to cram himself and his SO into a small metal noisy tube for several hours at a time?

I've sort of defaulted to a Luscombe because I want a metal fuselage. Gotta go LSA so that means the 8A model. I'm gonna be based at a 2500' grass field. Don't mind hand propping, mostly gonna just tootle around the area, and occasional xc about 600 miles. Not optimal, I know but it is what it is.
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Not the only plane in its class with a metal fuselage.
 
docmirror said:
What compels a reasonably sensible engineer to want to cram himself and his SO into a small metal noisy tube for several hours at a time?

I've sort of defaulted to a Luscombe because I want a metal fuselage. Gotta go LSA so that means the 8A model. I'm gonna be based at a 2500' grass field. Don't mind hand propping, mostly gonna just tootle around the area, and occasional xc about 600 miles. Not optimal, I know but it is what it is.
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I would also assume you want the Luscombe because of the cavernous interior - I've seen 5 people get out of one.
 
Silvaire said:
...I know it sorta "looks" like a Warner radial but it runs at 7600 rpm...
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Sun must have been bright while you were reading. It's actually 3600 RPM through a 3:2 reduction drive for 2400 prop RPM.

But, yeah...it'll sound a little "busier" on climbout.
 
PW_Plack said:
Sun must have been bright while you were reading. It's actually 3600 RPM through a 3:2 reduction drive for 2400 prop RPM.

But, yeah...it'll sound a little "busier" on climbout.
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oops, slight typo there :redface:

It sounds way busy all the time including taxi. It's not loud either, kind of a whirring sound. I wondered, what's the point of making something look like a classic radial if it's gonna sound like that? Is there any technological advantage to making it a radial rather than the typical pressure cowled opposed in line or is it just for aesthetics? If the latter why not make it sound right?

I've got some video's of the fly bys, I'll see if I can dig it up.
 
Silvaire said:
oops, slight typo there :redface:

It sounds way busy all the time including taxi. It's not loud either, kind of a whirring sound. I wondered, what's the point of making something look like a classic radial if it's gonna sound like that? Is there any technological advantage to making it a radial rather than the typical pressure cowled opposed in line or is it just for aesthetics? If the latter why not make it sound right?

I've got some video's of the fly bys, I'll see if I can dig it up.
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The point is making it look like a classic radial! Nothing cooler than a radial in a bump cowl. I fly a friend's Kitfox with the Rotec and it has great performance and the engine is very smooth. And of course it looks way cooler than one with a flat motor. Don
 
Shepherd said:
Nine cylinder Rotec Radial.

Sounds pretty good to me.
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Yea it was a few years ago and I recall my initial impression was that it sounded kind of weird but after pulling up a couple of YouTube videos and reviewing I'll admit that although it doesn't sound like a classic it also doesn't sound bad. I suppose the main thing I noticed was how high the rpm's were when it was taxiing. I saw the Rotec display at Oshkosh back in 2007 and I'll admit they do look fantastic, very good quality from what I saw.

Phantom 2 fly-by's
 
Here's the video I took back in 2009 of the Rotec taxiing past. I think it demonstrates what I was talking about, sounds a tad busy for slow taxi.

Phantom 2 taxi
 
We-ull. If I bought one with a run out engine and wanted to convert to the radial, I think the cost before I was all done would exceed my buy in. Here's a weird plan I was thinking of. What about a simple draw-through turbo normalizer for getting into hi elevation fields? I would use the same one off the Rotax 914 engine and use an auto wastegate control to limit pressure to 30" mp. The key is light weight, just the exhaust collector, turbo, oil lines and a side draft carb. Does anyone know of a TSO side draft carb? The only thing I can think of is the PS-5C and that is too big for 170 cu in.
 
I would want fabric wings, because they're so much lighter, and the most spartan/light weight panel possible. Got to admit I like the starter, though.
 
VanDy said:
Easy fix, before turning left, lift the left wing enough to see out! I catch myself doing it in the flight school's 172 and my instructor going WTF?



-VanDy
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I do that to, and teach it as well, it is a good habit even in the 172.
Works good to better check the blind spot under Cherokee wings also, although you are checking the opposite direction. But is a really good reminder to be looking for traffic.
As long as you tell your instructor you are checking for traffic behind the wing they shouldn't have any problem with it.

Brian
 
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