I LOVE Handpropping

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: I LOVE Handpropping

I sure wish people would refer to a Taylorcraft as such or T-craft, never T-CART. I agree with the previous writer, it is too deroqatory. PLEASE.
I've been flying mine since 1949, Dad bought it in 1943. It will always be a "craft" and not a "cart."

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: I LOVE Handpropping

Be VERY careful letting others (especially those you don't KNOW are experienced) prop your plane. I have seen a LOT of people who have seen movies of it being done and think they know how to do it. If it is an EXPERIENCED person who I KNOW FORM PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE has done it and knows what they are doing, "maybe", but NEVER a stranger. I probably would not let Cole Palen or Kermit Weeks prop my plane unless they were THOROUGHLY BRIEFED, and then I would probably ask them to sit at the controls while I did it. I would doubt anyone who knows what they are doing would ask to do it without asking a LOT of questions about how YOUR PLANE behaves when propped.

If they just offer to "flip your prop", I would NEVER allow it.

Hank

It IS a blast to walk out on the ramp and do it, CORRECTLY, and see the reaction of all the "Spam Can" drivers. Of course if you spend 30 minutes pulling her through and she won't start, it kind of reduces the fun.

[M Towsley]

Re: I LOVE Handpropping

Probably because it is such a throwback to a different era. Glad you are enjoying her. T-Cart is a bit derogatory for such pretty planes, though.

[runon]

I just got this nice 46 T-Craft a month or two ago, and I gotta say...
It's not only fun to fly, it's an awesome attention getter and conversation piece.
Don't get me wrong, I don't thrive on attention, but I just can't help feeling like I'm showing off every time I hand prop this princess.
There is ALWAYS someone(s) watching me start this plane (and more often than not they want to help in one way or another).

I don't know why it never occurred to me before I bought her, but I'm getting WAY more attention at the airports I visit now.
It probably sounds strange, but the times when I "let" someone else prop her (I get asked a lot) I get a little disappointed I didn't get to do it myself.
What a GREAT GREAT GREAT plane.
I absolutely LOVE everything about this "bare bones" T-Cart