New member in central Ohio

[Jerry Eichenberger]

Larry -

I own the FBO at Marysville Airport ( Union County) right here in central Ohio.

We use a Champ, cloned to look like an L-16 in our sport pilot training program. It has a full electrical system with radio and transponder.

We have several Chmaps based at the airport, but no Chiefs, so we can't help with your decision with any side by side comparison.

If you want to come up and talk to the Sat. Morning Liar's Club, as my wife calls it, please do. Our chief of maint. is an old tube and fabric guy who personally owns two Taylorcrafts, and just sold a Bellanca. He could answer any questions that you have. He's also a CFII with 20,000 pilot hours so he's been around the block a time or two.

One of the nicer Champs may be for sale soon - the owner has some personal issues to deal with that may cause him to sell his plane.
What's your full name, and where are you in central Ohio?

[bubbagump]

Jerry,

The Champ that I mentioned I'm training in... it's yours! In fact, I have it scheduled again for this Friday afternoon (working on my endorsement with Dan). That is one nice bird. It is exactly what I'm looking for in a Champ.

[bubbagump]

Jerry,

Sorry, I was remiss... my name is Larry Moss. I actually live about 5 miles north of Bolton Field (KTZR), south of Hilliard. Is the Champ you referred to the one Dr. Lewis is looking at?

[Jerry Eichenberger]

Larry -

I had a sneaking suspicion that may be the case when I wrote my post, but that I'd pry out the answer, and I got it <g>.

Glad to have you on board.

You would have a very hard time finding an airplane like ours. I paid through the nose for it, but to me, it's worth it to have a nice, safe airplane for our customers. As you know, we constantly pour maint. money into it to keep it that way. A privately owned Champ won't break your bank in maint., unless you do something silly and buy a dog to start with. But maintaining a 65 year old airplane that flies well over 300 hours per year does cost a bit.

Talk to Ed about doing the STC mods to a regular Champ to bring it up to what we have. It won't be cheap, but you'll end up with an airplane you'll enjoy for the rest of your flying years. And, it will be LSA compliant if that matters to you. If you have mechanical skills, he'll work with you to let you do as much as you feel comfortable, and supervise your work.

[Jerry Eichenberger]

Larry -

I don't know what Doc is looking at this week - it seems to be a moving target from a Legend Cub to a Citabria, to several other types.

Dr. Bob Lewis is one of my dearest personal friends; I've know him for decades - and he loves to fly tailwheel airplanes, including our Champ. He also flies the Tecnam quite a bit, even though he has a medical and has nothing wrong with him. Make friends with him. He's an AME, ( his AME office is right down the hall in the FBO building, next to the classroom) and after giving medical exams, he often takes the pilot up in the Champ if they haven't got any tailwheel experience to let them see real flying.