A friend purchased a 1961 Piper Colt after hanging around with me, longer than he should have, at the local airport. He and I planned to go to Virginia and pick up his new purchase. Because of several of the many complications involved in purchasing an airplane he had to go to work offshore at about the time we were to go fly the Colt home. Rather than wait until he was off work again, I went to get the airplane alone.
The 9.5 hour flight home was an adventure to say the least.
Both or our airplanes are 1961 Colts. The serial and N numbers are only nine digits apart. Both are also within 100 hours total time and time since overhaul. Someone in the past added droop wing tips to my Colt so they have somewhat different looks.
My Colt has earned the nickname "Droopy" and he has named his "Ugly Betty" This friend is very good at taking old items and making them look new. He actually helped me clean up my Colt and make it look more presentable. I fear "Ugly Betty" will be the better looking airplane before long...

Crash

A pilot friend came up a little short of fuel on this flight home...He sustained minor injuries and had his abilities questioned, tested, and retested by the FAA but he and his passenger walked away from this crash.

The passenger said the pilot remained calm and flew the plane all the way to the ground. They missed a small open field by fewer than 10 feet. The plane ended up inverted because they struck at least two trees on the way down.

I was able to talk with the FAA examiners about this crash. They said the number one cause of small plane crashes is fuel exhaustion.




Two things to remember...always check your fuel and in the event you get into an unfortunate situation like this, stay calm and fly it to the ground.

Flying again

Well, much to the chagrin of my wife, I did it again!
I found a 1961 Piper Colt in Summershade Kentucky for the right price and went and got it. Part of the fun of buying an aircraft is the flight home.

Alot of pilots look at the Colt as one ugly bird. I'll admit it isnt the best looking airplane on the market today, BUT, you cant beat it for the price. For some reason the Colts and, to a little lesser extent, the Tripacers just dont sell for much money.

Colts can be found on Barnstormers for under $15000 or less with low time engines. Tripacers arent much more. Most, if not all, Colts also have a 2400 hour TBO which adds value to the aircraft in my book.
If you can get over the "flying milk stool" look, you can have a great airplane for little money.

With a 36 gallon fuel capacity and around a 700lb useful load they cant be beat!!!

My latest airplane is an ugly bird. The attendant at the local FBO was being positive the other night when he commented, "your airplane doesnt look bad,...in low light."

They all look alike at 3500 feet.

No Airplane

I haven't posted here in a while.
Probably because I sold my airplane and lack the motivation...

I didn't sell because fuel prices have gotten to be outrageous. We had an unexpected expense replacing a vehicle, thanks to a teenager who appears to be following very closely in his old mans footsteps, and selling the airplane to avoid a car payment seemed like the logical solution (especially to my wife who has never been supportive of the airplane).

Recently I found a couple projects that I thought might work out but decided it would be better to just buy one already flying. The idea of rebuilding an airplane seemed like something I wanted to do until I recalled restoring cars years ago. Cars were a pain. I can only imagine how bad the airplane would be.

I am considering a partnership this time around. I have never had a partner in airplane ownership but I think it could work out. I think no more than three in the partnership would be best. That way expenses can be low and there wont be alot of scheduling problems. The agreement will have to be put on paper before the purchase so we all know what to expect from the deal.

In the mean time, I am still searching for the next deal....

Summer Fly-In

Last weekend I was finally free to go somewhere! My son and I flew from 12J to 82J (Ferguson) a small private field extremely close to all sorts of MOAs and restricted areas in the Pensacola area. Another pilot at the field flew down as well.
Ferguson was having a fly-in. It was really well attended. It appeared that more people drove in rather than flying in but there was a good assortment of nice aircraft there (Yaks, Ercoupes, Stinsons, Taylorcrafts, Stearmans, Huskies, RV's, Cessnas, Tripacers, etc...).
It has been a long time since I have seen that much activity at any airport. We had a good time.
On the way down I took advantage of having another airplane headed to the same destination. I took some photos of the Stinson in flight and on the return trip my son flew in the Stinson and took some photos of the Cessna in flight.
I was a little apprehensive about coming back in the hottest part of the day with two of us in the Cessna so My son flew in the Stinson. It would have probably been fine, the runway at 82J is 3200 feet long but being the big guy that I am, I was still apprehensive. Anyway, it gave my son the chance to experience other aircraft and gave me peace of mind.