A story followed by a question.
I've been flying more in the last year than I have in the previous 5-6 years combined (maybe even more than that). The majority of that flying, at least in terms of presence-of-mind if perhaps not actual hours, has been the 1946 Aeronca Champ 7AC I've been flying out of Harvey Field (S43) near Seattle. It's been upgraded to a C85, and it has electric start if you have external power hooked up, but is otherwise pretty stock.
Every time I go up in that little plane, I get a big grin on my face, and spend the whole flight beatifically surveying my world. I expect that my completed Charger, a decade from now, will probably produce a similar effect.
The fly in the ointment is that the Champ I'm renting comes with an asterisk on the rental agreement: I'm not allowed to shut down the engine anywhere except Harvey Field, presumably because their insurance or their lawyer would excrete ocher masonry at the thought of me hand-propping the plane (and no lie, I'm very leery of hand-propping a plane, because I've never done it, and I mostly fly solo, which seems to up the danger quotient quite a bit). So, I can fly around all I want, but I can't go anywhere.
Thus, I've been thinking about buying a plane to tide myself over until my real plane (the Charger) is done. I was looking hard at the Beech Musketeer line last year, but I'm so enjoying taildraggers now that I find my eye wandering toward the Champ/Chief/Champion line, Luscombes, Stinsons, etc. I will want to wander the sky locally, but the occasional ~150 nm trip to Scappoose will definitely happen, as well as shorter local flights for $100 hamburgers or sightseeing.
I guess I have two questions for the group.
The first is, am I mad to contemplate owning one plane while building another? I realize this is mostly on me and how my life is situated, but I'd be interested to hear related anecdotes.
The second is, am I mad to contemplate buying a plane that's twice my own age as a regular flyer? I wouldn't blink twice at owning a 1970s Cessna/Piper, but I don't know what daily life is like with a 40s era plane.
I've been flying more in the last year than I have in the previous 5-6 years combined (maybe even more than that). The majority of that flying, at least in terms of presence-of-mind if perhaps not actual hours, has been the 1946 Aeronca Champ 7AC I've been flying out of Harvey Field (S43) near Seattle. It's been upgraded to a C85, and it has electric start if you have external power hooked up, but is otherwise pretty stock.
Every time I go up in that little plane, I get a big grin on my face, and spend the whole flight beatifically surveying my world. I expect that my completed Charger, a decade from now, will probably produce a similar effect.
The fly in the ointment is that the Champ I'm renting comes with an asterisk on the rental agreement: I'm not allowed to shut down the engine anywhere except Harvey Field, presumably because their insurance or their lawyer would excrete ocher masonry at the thought of me hand-propping the plane (and no lie, I'm very leery of hand-propping a plane, because I've never done it, and I mostly fly solo, which seems to up the danger quotient quite a bit). So, I can fly around all I want, but I can't go anywhere.
Thus, I've been thinking about buying a plane to tide myself over until my real plane (the Charger) is done. I was looking hard at the Beech Musketeer line last year, but I'm so enjoying taildraggers now that I find my eye wandering toward the Champ/Chief/Champion line, Luscombes, Stinsons, etc. I will want to wander the sky locally, but the occasional ~150 nm trip to Scappoose will definitely happen, as well as shorter local flights for $100 hamburgers or sightseeing.
I guess I have two questions for the group.
The first is, am I mad to contemplate owning one plane while building another? I realize this is mostly on me and how my life is situated, but I'd be interested to hear related anecdotes.
The second is, am I mad to contemplate buying a plane that's twice my own age as a regular flyer? I wouldn't blink twice at owning a 1970s Cessna/Piper, but I don't know what daily life is like with a 40s era plane.
