Homesick Angel wrote:

Congratulations.
Never flown in a short-wing Piper. Guess that's why they drop like
that. I'm a Cessna pilot nice wing, good speed and price tag. It's
said that if you're in a pacer and drop a brick out the window and chop
the throttle you'll beat the brick to the ground. I never really
accepted the challenge of a taildragger either. My husband rebuilds
them so I see all the mishaps. We have a Champ project he's been
working on, (but has gone and got a real job so don't know if/when the
Champ will get done). Also picked up a Pacer project, fuse looks good,
haven't seen wings yet (he's probably hiding them from me). It's the
one with the nosewheel so I might help more on that project.

Keep up with the taildragger and you'll master it. I think I'm too old
to learn but if we ever get this Champ done, maybe I can get the
necessary time to get it figured out. We've always flown out of grass
strips. Narrow barbed wires both sides, major Xwind 99% of the time so
I'll keep the Beast from the East (1957 182). These gas prices aren't
helping at all. With an airplane project in the works there is never
enough money for recreating.

Glad to hear you have a good instructor, flying should be fun. Keep up
the good work. Maybe I'll have to get the Beast out and take it for a
spin, make that fligh; now that the mud has finally drid up. Even
though I have 100s of hours I still have trouble with things like
altitude, always flew in the backcountry and just flying along geeking
at the scenery, not much traffic. Now I like catching the thermals and
gaining some free altitutde. On my 3 take-offs and landings at a
towered field I got to almost 2000 feet above where I was supposed to
be. Tower brought it to my attention. There were some real fancy
houses I was flying over and I wanted to make sure I could glide to the
next field, but to keep out of Dyess AFB airspace I dropped back down.
That was in the Beast. Loves to climb all the time. The first time I
did a turn in it I gained 3,000 feet but turned out perfectly on the
heaing. Good thing my instructor is a good sport. He said to do a
tight 360 and make sure I turned out at the right time. Well instead
of pulling the throttle I figured some back pressure would get us to 85
knots and that would be a good speed. We was pinned back in the seat,
looking all over fr the horizon. Probably figuring the elevator had a
major malfunction. Gosh I just love flying. Was hoping to be able to
keep this Champ and have "The Ayuhtollah of Aviation" give lessons in
it off our little grass strip here. Just have to wait and see what
happens.

Miss those nice crisp clear days we had in Downeast Maine along the
coast and you could see hundreds of miles. Seems like we only have
about a couple of dozen of those a year here in Texas. Well congrats.
Carol, the Homesick Angel. N330F, Bangs International, Bangs Tx.

Carol,

It's been really nice reading your posts here. 'been a -very- long time since I
was in something little, or lighter than 200,000lbs. I'd have to have Mr.
Peabody and Sherman set the Way-back machine back almost 24yrs to remember
laying hands on a Champ or Tri-Pacer, but reading your posts here made that time
seem not so long ago.

I feel bad for those learning to fly now.. just for the costs involved. At
Chandler Airport(near Phoenix) a 172 goes for $70+/hr. To give you an idea how
longs it's been for me.. I learned to fly in central NJ, and St Pete, FL. I
could rent a Champ for $9/hr... wet.. an Instructor would be another $3/hr. A
150 would be $11/hr wet. Those days are long, long gone, but the memories
remain. These days, I strap into a big Boeing and get to look down from FL390.
A different kind of fun, no better, no worse. Oh, it's still flying, and I try
to hand-fly as much as I can but there are a few days when I'd rather be in a
Champ, or Bellanca, or J3 buzzin around at a couple thousand feet, window open,
arm hangin out, throwin' a roll of TP out the window, cutting it on the way
down... I feel for those learning now, but I envy them too.

TJ
B757, PHX
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Living the dream, one red-eye at a time...