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I just completed a week-long ferry flight of a very nice '41BC12-65 deluxe to her new owner. So counting mine, we now have two on the field.
I hope that the new owner, Peterroy on the forum, will chime in about his new plane. I'm sure that he will have loads of questions for the tribe.
The plane was in east Tennessee on a lovely little grass strip in the Great Smokies. Peter and I went back and looked at the plane at the end of February and he decided to buy it. It has a fresh top overhaul, new struts, and new Ceconite. Other than that it has the banjo wheels with the embossed "Taylorcraft", the floating instrument panel, and the cast glove-box handles. All the cowl trim wraps back to the wood doors, which fit well fit well and it is a joy to fly with the windows open.
So he sends a check for the plane but he has this thing called a job and he can't take a week to go fetch it. Dang! I hate being retired. I had no excuse when he offered to pay for me to go fly a neat little Taylorcraft across half the US.
So last Wednesday I flew commercial airlines back from New Mexico through Dallas and Charlotte to Tri-Cities airport near where the plane was. I was lucky and the big stream of storms running up the Appalachians broke just long enough for me to get off early the next morning.
The plane has a strong engine and it seems rigged well and flys straight. I headed east across Tennessee getting the feel for the plane. It is an easy plane to like and with the exception of needing a bit of right rudder (which would start to stress my foot a little over the next nineteen hours) the plane and I made friends quickly. Head winds and low altitudes kept my ground speed to 70-75 mpg for this first leg, and I made it to Dyersburg TN for the first night.
The next morning, the plane started on the first flip of the prop. In fact over the whole trip the little thing started on the first blade every time, cold or hot. Oil use was a quart every 5-6 hours. I think this engine may be a keeper.
Anyway, onward into Oklahoma where I had to wait over a long weekend for a very slow moving low pressure to pass over. Muskegee OK. Interesting place. They have a submarine on display. And the airport houses a really nice flying P-40N. I guess there are worse places to wait out the weather,
When the weather finally cleared, I went across Oklahoma, the pan handle of Texas, and eastern New Mexico to our home in Los Alamos NM east of Santa Fe in one final 9-hour day.
By the way, for those who have questioned the altitude ability of these planes with their A65s and mixture-less stromburgs, I easily took her to 8500 for cruise where she seemed to run along at well over 90 mph. The prop does seem to be a climb prop. I had to pull back a lot to get 2150 RPM and it was always easy to get 2300 in a climb at any altitude that I tried. On the final leg I was at 10500 over Glorietta pass around Santa Fe with no trouble. The altitude performance is nice. My plane has a C-85, but our field is at 7200 MSL up in the mountains and I was worried that the A65 might be a little short on power. But this one seems to be up to the task.
It was a wonderful 19 hours of flying. I think that my friend found a real thoroughbred.
I hope that the new owner, Peterroy on the forum, will chime in about his new plane. I'm sure that he will have loads of questions for the tribe.
The plane was in east Tennessee on a lovely little grass strip in the Great Smokies. Peter and I went back and looked at the plane at the end of February and he decided to buy it. It has a fresh top overhaul, new struts, and new Ceconite. Other than that it has the banjo wheels with the embossed "Taylorcraft", the floating instrument panel, and the cast glove-box handles. All the cowl trim wraps back to the wood doors, which fit well fit well and it is a joy to fly with the windows open.
So he sends a check for the plane but he has this thing called a job and he can't take a week to go fetch it. Dang! I hate being retired. I had no excuse when he offered to pay for me to go fly a neat little Taylorcraft across half the US.
So last Wednesday I flew commercial airlines back from New Mexico through Dallas and Charlotte to Tri-Cities airport near where the plane was. I was lucky and the big stream of storms running up the Appalachians broke just long enough for me to get off early the next morning.
The plane has a strong engine and it seems rigged well and flys straight. I headed east across Tennessee getting the feel for the plane. It is an easy plane to like and with the exception of needing a bit of right rudder (which would start to stress my foot a little over the next nineteen hours) the plane and I made friends quickly. Head winds and low altitudes kept my ground speed to 70-75 mpg for this first leg, and I made it to Dyersburg TN for the first night.
The next morning, the plane started on the first flip of the prop. In fact over the whole trip the little thing started on the first blade every time, cold or hot. Oil use was a quart every 5-6 hours. I think this engine may be a keeper.
Anyway, onward into Oklahoma where I had to wait over a long weekend for a very slow moving low pressure to pass over. Muskegee OK. Interesting place. They have a submarine on display. And the airport houses a really nice flying P-40N. I guess there are worse places to wait out the weather,
When the weather finally cleared, I went across Oklahoma, the pan handle of Texas, and eastern New Mexico to our home in Los Alamos NM east of Santa Fe in one final 9-hour day.
By the way, for those who have questioned the altitude ability of these planes with their A65s and mixture-less stromburgs, I easily took her to 8500 for cruise where she seemed to run along at well over 90 mph. The prop does seem to be a climb prop. I had to pull back a lot to get 2150 RPM and it was always easy to get 2300 in a climb at any altitude that I tried. On the final leg I was at 10500 over Glorietta pass around Santa Fe with no trouble. The altitude performance is nice. My plane has a C-85, but our field is at 7200 MSL up in the mountains and I was worried that the A65 might be a little short on power. But this one seems to be up to the task.
It was a wonderful 19 hours of flying. I think that my friend found a real thoroughbred.
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