Jay Honeck wrote:
We seem to have a number of Navions hereabouts. Always wondered what
the attraction was. Seems a Bonanza is more efficient.


Navions are just so much cooler than Bonanzas. Anything with that
"North American" prefix is gonna have way more chops than anything
callled a "Beechcraft", which sounds too much like a boat company, I'm
afraid.

The Navion's huge cabin, and those classic lines, so reminiscent of
the Mustang, just make it a real piece of American history. If I were
to buy a 4-place classic aircraft, it would be a toss-up between a
Beech Staggerwing and a Navion.

Jay, I now know you understand what a really cool airplane is!! Also
for years a Navion (although 5 knots slower) could be found cheaper than
a Bo. Navions are indeed quite cool. BTW we came out of annual some
time between two weekends (damned this work crap is getting in the way
of my airplane!) with a few minor "we need to do that sometime in the
next couple of months" issues. Then after not having flown in 3 months
(damned husband gets to fly just cause it looks like we might go IFR at
some point, yes, I know, I should get my instrument rating), did my BFR
with a former U2 pilot (who asked if I'd seen some video on "that Alexis
website" :-) without difficulty (except my steep turns started out
really ugly). He needed a few landings so I managed to sit on my hands
while someone else flew my plane from the right seat to a landing (mind
you the right seat has no brakes). Now I'd flown with him in a CAP 182
when he was the CAPUSAF and I've never seen anyone handle a plane like
that, so I did ok. His wife was in the back as they haven't been flying
in a while (new house syndrome) and she wasn't fond of the stalls. We
flew around for a couple of hours and had a great time. I think my slow
flight is better than it ever was!

Only one fatality yesterday, I ran over a mouse while pulling the plane
out. After finding the rather squished body I took a really good look
inside the wing over the wheel that did the damage and could find no
evidence of a nest, etc. Lights worked, strobes worked, I wish I knew
where that little sucker came from!

It was GREAT to be able to fly again. Now it looks like spring might
get here and I'm going to try to get out much more often.