Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 29,889
- Display Name
Display name:
iFlyNothing
We live out in the middle of nowhere farm country with 11 acres, rectangular, east/west is the wide part. There's a slight hill on our property. We can have about a 1,000 ft strip as a "one way in, one way out" arrangement, more or less a 9/27. We're outside of the Mode C veil. Nice place to go fly around and count cows.
For some time, the thought had been to make a ~450 ft strip and build a Zenith, since that only requires cutting down around 5 trees. To get to the full 1,000 ft requires another 20 or so trees (some of which are going to be a bit of a pain). But after thinking about it we realized that 1) we really wanted an old taildragger, not a new tricycle gear and 2) cutting down trees is easier and faster than building an airplane. Plus, more runway = more options for friends to visit since a lot of planes can get in and out of 1,000 ft, but almost none can get in and out of 450 ft.
So now, the question, what to buy? Requirements as follows:
1) Must be an old 2-seat taildragger (older than 1960)
1a) @jesse 's FlyBaby is therefore not an option
2) Must be side-by-side seating
3) Stick preferred, although not mandatory
4) Electrical system preferred, but not required. We live close to the Mode C veil and the 414 is based at a Class D within the Bravo, so we'd need an electrical system to easily get up there legally. Coms and ADS-B. Battery could be an alternate.
4a) Or am I backwards on that? I've never had to know about regs for planes without electrical systems, do we end up better off with a plane with no electrical system and then able to just use a handheld?
Goal is something that we can take one of the kids up in and just go count cows and have fun, let them start to learn to fly some. Basically the polar opposite of the 414.
@Laurie likes J-4s. I know nothing about them, but they're appealing. The only old taildragger of this sort that I ever flew in was an old 140 at Tony's wedding, which I did really like. But I imagine they're all similarly fun. Laurie thought that the 140s were more prone to ground looping. I have effectively 0 tailwheel time so something less prone to ground looping would be better.
Alright, have at it. What should we buy?
For some time, the thought had been to make a ~450 ft strip and build a Zenith, since that only requires cutting down around 5 trees. To get to the full 1,000 ft requires another 20 or so trees (some of which are going to be a bit of a pain). But after thinking about it we realized that 1) we really wanted an old taildragger, not a new tricycle gear and 2) cutting down trees is easier and faster than building an airplane. Plus, more runway = more options for friends to visit since a lot of planes can get in and out of 1,000 ft, but almost none can get in and out of 450 ft.
So now, the question, what to buy? Requirements as follows:
1) Must be an old 2-seat taildragger (older than 1960)
1a) @jesse 's FlyBaby is therefore not an option
2) Must be side-by-side seating
3) Stick preferred, although not mandatory
4) Electrical system preferred, but not required. We live close to the Mode C veil and the 414 is based at a Class D within the Bravo, so we'd need an electrical system to easily get up there legally. Coms and ADS-B. Battery could be an alternate.
4a) Or am I backwards on that? I've never had to know about regs for planes without electrical systems, do we end up better off with a plane with no electrical system and then able to just use a handheld?
Goal is something that we can take one of the kids up in and just go count cows and have fun, let them start to learn to fly some. Basically the polar opposite of the 414.
@Laurie likes J-4s. I know nothing about them, but they're appealing. The only old taildragger of this sort that I ever flew in was an old 140 at Tony's wedding, which I did really like. But I imagine they're all similarly fun. Laurie thought that the 140s were more prone to ground looping. I have effectively 0 tailwheel time so something less prone to ground looping would be better.
Alright, have at it. What should we buy?
