National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

Joe - your lawn needs mowing!



Jon

Oh, yeah...

While you're blowing them dry with the air hose, please resist the urge (it's a guy thing) to spin 'em up with the air. Bearings are not designed to run like this in an uncontained environment. They can come apart. Explosively!

Bad, bad, bad. Someone could lose an eye!

Jon

Del:

That is the "purtiest" Champ belly that I have *ever* seen!

Wow!

Jon

Been there; done that; didn't get the tee-shirt. The Champion I used to own was a 7FC which was converted to 'conventional' gear in ~1990. The data plate still showed "7FC" as the model. I wanted to install skis (Federal 1500) that were listed on the 7EC type certificate, so asked the FSDO...

You're welcome.

Note also that the cables vary between 'standard' oleos and the long-stroke (no-bounce) oleos. The latter are a few inches longer.

I have a new set of Aero M2000 skis (well, Lee owns them) and can measure them if you can wait a few days. They're out at Lee's farm.

Since I put 'em on over Poly-Tone, I used Poly-Tak. If they come off, what shows underneath will almost certainly be pink...

Keith:

Call Troy at Aero-Ski. Even though they're Federals, he has rigging information. I bought some pieces from him for the Federals I had and he gave me the cable lengths. They're the same for Federals as Aero.

Aero-Ski, Brooten, Minnesota. 320-346-2285.

Dennis, My only objection to Gaston's is that the Champ is down for the annual and that is a very long drive from Ash Flat! It might be back into the air by the 10th but I doubt it, surely will be by the 15th though. If it is up I'm all for Gaston's. Gus: "...down for the annual..."? And ...

I like Dusty's answer. The truth of the matter is... it depends. I once landed at a friend's strip in the winter, not realizing that the tracks I saw weren't from airplanes, but were snow-mobile (snow machines, for you Alaskans) and ATV tracks. The snow was 8-10 inches deep (I was on 7.00 tires), bu...

In airplane restoration, as in many other areas, experience counts. I spent countless hours - really - standing in the garage, looking at the project, chin in hand, wondering "How in the hell does *that* work?". Then there are the things that need disassembling due to the incorrect sequenc...

Keith: It'll cost more than you budget; that much is certain! I figured $4k but spent about $9k. It had only about 400 since a major when I got it. It turned out that the primary tool used on the overhaul was a pencil! The case was cracked and not repairable - $1200. The oil pump was scored and beyo...

Maybe, Mark, if you get a decent check from FEMA, you can afford to buy some good beer!

Jon B.

Doug: OK. I apologize. I misunderstood. I've often thought that, if I wanted to fly, owned an airplane, kept it at home, and couldn't pass a physical, I'd just say screw the feds and fly anyway. That, of course, would mean no insurance. Which means no passengers. And no flying where you could damage...

Joe-- That is why I got my A&P 50 years ago and my IA 40 years ago. Now I have the gras field and own fuel to go with it. Just looked at a Champ that went to one of those advertised places for an annual while changing it to larger tires. First thing I found was a cracked break lining that had e...

She's all gone. I sold my half to the guy who owned the other half. Thus far in 2008, I've put something like 16 hours on the tach. Seven of those hours were one trip to the Canadian border in March. The first 12 months after restoration, I flew her 90 hours! The next 12 months, I think it was 40. T...