National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

Does anybody know if Aeronca put a serial number tab anywhere on the airframe. I have an L-16 registration with a military serial number but a data tag with a serial number that does not exist in the faa database. I am trying to get a letter to get a new data tag stamped from ACA. The local fsdo wants to make sure the airframe is the correct one. I know the pacer series have a serial tab on them but i have not been able to find anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jason,
No serial numbers were affixed to the fuselage. You have a little odd situation with a L16 serial number. They are sometime listed with a 7BCM-xxx serial number from Aeronca. The Air Force then assigned a number using the year and procurement information, 47-1108 in my case. Most often the Aeronca number was lost to history and the 47-xxxx number was used for licence after the planes were sold from military inventory. All of the information will be on the data plate.
Paul

I have a data tag that was installed by the rear seat with the 7bcm-395 serial number. All my paperwork
(airworthiness cert/logs(for what they are worth) has 47-1170 which all the history on the aircraft from the cd from the feds gave me. Is there any way to track the aeronca 7bcm s/n down. There is no listing for it in any of the databases from the FAA. It would be nice to cross reference those s/n's from aeronca/american champion.

Jason,
I haven't been able to find any correlation from civilian to military serial numbers. If you have the CD it might shed some light on it. You might get a hold of Don Jones and see if he can supply you with a part that will reflect the correct serial number.
Paul

Jason,
It appears to me that the numbers you have are correct. They're exactly 10 numbers away from my L16 (7BCM-405 and 47-1180).
I'm not sure exactly what the feds are looking for (as Paul stated) the data plate was the only airframe identification that furnished in the Aeronca during those days. If there was some repair work performed that can be documented and identified that also should help but it seems like you have everything you need if I'm reading your posts correctly.

Mike

Thanks for the help Mike. Do you still have the original data tag in the aircraft? I just dont want to run into Mr Fed and have him ground the aircraft for not having a matching serial number for my data tag. My data tag is from Lunkin also which dosent fit the timeline. In reading other posts about data tags I'm not worried about it not being a Middleton tag. It has been fun tracing the history on the plane. Thanks again Paul and Mike for the insight.

Jason,
Go back and read Paul's message regarding Don Jones 'carefully' .
You're right regarding the time line though. It should read 'Middletown' as far as I know but lots of these tags have been lost or misplaced over the years and if you have some paperwork to back it up it shouldn't be a problem. What does your military tag say??
Mike

Mike,
I dont have anything from the military. All I have is the aeronca tag with the 7bcm-395 serial number. I did send an email to the airforce historical records people to see if I could cross reference the s/n's. I would really like to keep the plane certificated. The local fsdo said I might have to make it experimental to fly it again. Im calling their bluff just because I dont like to do what they say

Hi Jason
Send your Ph # to me, i think can help.

N1390E@comcast.net

Bill Pancake 304-788-1974

Jason,

Bill Pancake is the guru for Aeronca's. He has forgotten more than we all know about them, so pls give him a call.

Joe A

Bill
Sent email with number. Call when you get a chance.
907-209-2448

With each new model from the factory there were certain upgrades to the airframe. If your airframe is in the correct configuration, that should be enough. Trouble with asking the feds is that you get someone who doesn't know how to do what is needed so he says no just to cover his butt. Don't talk to them till you have a solution that lets them off the hook.

As part of my job(Director of Maintenance) I get to work with the FAA on almost a daily basis. I also get to work with Gregg, who most of you know. Its hard to get champ stuff by that guy . He has been great helping me with my project. My goal with this project is to have a nice champ that I can sell off someday and the next guy does not have to worry about the legality of the plane. I wish the jack@$$ who sold me the plane, would have at least tried to do it right. I should have paid more attention when I bought the plane, but being a first time buyer I didnt know the things I do now.

Lostdutchman wrote:As part of my job(Director of Maintenance) I get to work with the FAA on almost a daily basis. I also get to work with Gregg, who most of you know. Its hard to get champ stuff by that guy . He has been great helping me with my project. My goal with this project is to have a nice champ that I can sell off someday and the next guy does not have to worry about the legality of the plane. I wish the jack@$$ who sold me the plane, would have at least tried to do it right. I should have paid more attention when I bought the plane, but being a first time buyer I didnt know the things I do now.

I was going to say that you had a good chance of getting the airplane into the air, then you tossed the "I work with Gregg" part into the air! Now you are hurting!

You need to do one more thing! Make Gregg a partner in the plane and get his rear back flying an Aeronca!

Was Bill Pancake able to help? Hope so...

Joe A

Jason,
You're really screwed now. The worst thing you can have is a ASI that thinks he knows something about airplanes. Just have them stick to the regs as they are written, not how they interpret them.
Paul