Quote:
Originally Posted by electricflyer
... said where are you going to put your radio? I said on the dinette table but she said no
... a 1940 Waco biplane owned by Steve Mathis, W0JOV, and when I talked to him on the radio he said if I ever got out to Montrose, CO he would give me a ride ... First time in an open cockpit plane, GREAT.
|
Glad to know all your decisions are made by mutual agreement after fair and equal discussion.
Open biplanes are wonderful fun to fly. A friend, George Read, built and owned a Breezy biplane, unique as far as I know. There are other Breezys, but George's was the only one that was a biplane. In a Breezy, you sit out in front of everything and get bugs in your teeth and up your sleeves and pantlegs. Very easy to fly, and it had only one speed. 50 mph climbing, 50 mph straight and level, 50 mph descending, 50 mph with full power and the nose pointed straight down.
Other open-cockpit planes I've flown were fun too (Pietenpols mostly), but the Breezy was in a class by itself.
George was famous, by the way, for two things:
(1) Buzzing the campground in the Breezy at Sun-N-Fun, with several hundred FAA inspectors watching -- got him a 180-day license suspension; and
(2) Putting not one, but
two Pietenpols in the branches of trees. No injuries either time, but the planes needed some repairs after they were got down.
Quite a character, George Read. But he could fly anything, or even the box it came in. And he made me a much better tailwheel pilot after I bought my old Commonwealth/Rearwin Skyranger.
Ah, memories ...
Sorry to go off-topic on you, but that's how we septuagenarians are, especially septuagenarian
pilots. Sounds like your new rig will be a lot of fun and serve you well.