Special trips by Aeronca

[EDGEFLY]

Just finished reading his and commenters posts on Dick Haldermans' Coast to Coast adventure and enjoyed it much. Intend to go back and pick up on link references etc. as an expansion. Nice going Dick, certainly not many have taken on such a plan and completed it. Now for my travel question: Has anyone here made a trip to the Bahamas by Aeronca ? I'd love to read a complete record of that trip! You may suspect I wonder for a reason.

Dale

[RRHaldeman]

Not by Aeronca, but in my Skylane quite a few times. There is no reason it cannot be done in an Aeronca, for the distance between Palm Beach Int'l and Grand Bahama Int'l is only 75 Nm but a few caveats are in order.

First, fuel supply can be "iffy" in the islands so an aircraft with limited fuel may find itself grounded waiting for a fuel delivery.

Second, a life raft should be required equipment and that does not eave room for a passenger.

[joea]

I know of several people who have flown long distances in an Aeronca. As well the last two years I have flown from Arizona to Middletown Ohio in the Sedan for the Aeronca fly-in.

Do not know anyone who has done Bermuda but its certainly possible...

[EDGEFLY]

Dick,

Excellent point re: fuel. Any tips on how to check up ahead of time to be sure you don't have to wait for the delivery truck ? This sometimes happens here as well. At our local airport, we had a very brief outage due to the fact that delivery has to be synchronized with some other area airports because each individual purchase is too small to warrant a specific trip from the area supplier. I had the unfortunate situation of being the only pilot around when a fellow from Ga. landed and we had nothing but Coke and Pepsi to offer! Had his family on board and couldn't make the next "for sure" stop. Was able to find another spot for him only slightly out of his way which had higher octane stuff in their pumps and confirm it by telephone.

I'll be making your point a significant planning check list item. While I'm thinking about it, my
Fuel purchases will not be large in gallons (or Liters) Do you think that might be a problem ?

[EDGEFLY]

Thanks, Joe. Did any of the long distance trips include foreign destinations or waypoints, such as Cont.U.S. - Canada - Alaska or Other ? Is there a specific Canadian Aeronca org. Such as ours ? This comes to mind because it might be good to have contacts in case of major support needs etc.

Dale

[joea]

Well Dale,

While not always in an Aeronca, I have hit every state in the country and 94 countries (and lived in 8 of them) in my flying career, so at times its hard to keep up!

Do not know of a Canadian Aeronca site, but there is a UK, German and Swiss Aeronca group. As well in India there may be a group of Pushpak enthusists. The Pushpak is a licensed copy of the Aeronca Chief built there for training.

If you are doing a long cross country in an Aeronca, put a post here and let us know where you are going several weeks early. Betting that many people will chime in and offer assistance and possibly a place to stay overnight if they are close.

Joe A

[joea]

Dick,

Excellent point re: fuel. Any tips on how to check up ahead of time to be sure you don't have to wait for the delivery truck ? This sometimes happens here as well. At our local airport, we had a very brief outage due to the fact that delivery has to be synchronized with some other area airports because each individual purchase is too small to warrant a specific trip from the area supplier. I had the unfortunate situation of being the only pilot around when a fellow from Ga. landed and we had nothing but Coke and Pepsi to offer! Had his family on board and couldn't make the next "for sure" stop. Was able to find another spot for him only slightly out of his way which had higher octane stuff in their pumps and confirm it by telephone.

I'll be making your point a significant planning check list item. While I'm thinking about it, my
Fuel purchases will not be large in gallons (or Liters) Do you think that might be a problem ?

Dale

Fuel has never been an issue for me on flights with the Aeronca. One thing is that I do carry a 5 gallon jug in the back of the Sedan "just in case" I need to hike to a gas station and buy some car gas to get to the next airport, but never needed it.

Most airports these days have the self serve "automatic credit card" dispenser that works day and night even if the airport is not attended.

[pmanton]

I don't know if this qualifies, but I'm kinda proud of taking a 65Hp Champ across the Straits of Gibraltar to Tangier & return.

That was probably 65 or 66. I left Rota Spain spent the day in Tangier with my ex wife and returned.

Paul
2AZ1

[joea]

Paul,

Not many people even know where "The Rock" is in this world, so guessing that its a big deal. Where did you get the champ? Aero Club on an Air Force Base?

[pmanton]

I joined the flying club at the Navy base at Rota about 60-70 miles away from Sevilla where I was stationed. When I made the flight to Tangier I was still flying the club's airplanes and left from Rota. I climbed all the way so that if I lost the engine over water I'd be able to glide back to land. Leaving Tangier it wasn't so easy. The plane was fueled, full of people and souvenirs and the day was hot.
I later bought N2426E from the club and based it at Tablada Airbase as Sevilla. I flew all over Southern Spain until I was appointed warrant officer in 67.

I have a picture of 26E parked next to a Spitfire during the filming of the Battle of Britian but can't figure out how to post it.

Paul

[joea]

You have to "host" the photo at a place like photobucket or the like then copy a link to the location in a post.

More detailed info here: http://www.joea.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=604

[jc pacquin]

A husband and wife, both CFI's, have just returned to W42 after visiting 48 states in their rebuilt 90 hp Cub. They also visited Oshkosh while they were at it. The Cub is better than new, just rebuilt a year or two ago. Sooooo- if a cub can do it why not a Champ or Chief? More to the point is....can YOU take it? It gets to be old news after three or four days. I did two long trips in the Stearman years ago about three days each. Lots of fun but I was glad to be home. Good books, describing long flights are "Flight of Passage" and " Canibal Queen".

[Holcombe]

I've been flying my 7CCM to Oshkosh every summer now from Oregon for some time. One trip I continued all the way to Bar Harbor, Maine. Took seven days to get home flying three two hour hops a day.
There is no reason an Aeronca in good repair can't fly anywhere any damn spam can can.
Just go out and do it.