Thinking Out Loud: Post-Covid, Airplane Wish Lists
The Trade-a-Plane/Barnstormers addiction analyzed.
Almost as soon as the Wright boys proved flight was possible, folks started thinking about buying airplanes. Marketing (selling stuff) is far from being a modern invention. In fact, during this same period, Sears Roebuck was selling complete, large houses as kits in their catalogs! So, it was only logical that to support the newly discovered concept of flying, increasingly sophisticated methods of searching out airplanes for sale have been developed. As we speak, the hard-copy generation (mine) that couldn’t have a bowel movement without a Trade-a-Plane in their lap is converting to digits. Now it’s our phones and Barnstormers, etc. Digitizing airplane window shopping makes it available to us everywhere at any time. It’s our go-to during boring lectures, family gatherings, cousins weddings! You know the drill!
Because we’re always pricing and checking availability of favorite aerial toys, there’s a 99% probability that most aviator types reading these words can answer certain questions without even thinking about them.
Question one: Of the airplanes, you’ve flown, what’s your favorite? You can break that into categories (old, new, etc.), if you want.
Question two: Ignoring cost, what would the driving factor be in you buying an airplane? Utility (cross country), or fun?
Question three: If you hit the lottery today so finances aren’t in question, what airplane would you immediately buy (assuming a hangar is available, which they never are)?
Question Four: If you hit the lottery and could only have two airplanes, what would they be?
Agonizing, isn’t it?
I have my own series of answers…a bucket list of sorts…that, for whatever reason, recently seems to have gotten shorter. I think that having spent so many years (over 50) keeping a dirt-simple airplane like the Pitts flying, a little logic has crept into my buying decisions (age can be a bitch). I don’t want to saddle myself with something that’ll give me ulcers supporting it.
Here’s a sobering fact that’s part of the equation: I’ve been using the same insurance agency to insure the same airplane for 31 years (shopped around, they were cheapest and best). I totaled it up the other day (which you should never do) and over a 30-year period I’ve spent over $90,000 insuring a $60,000 airplane! Fortunately, it’s a working bird so it supports itself. If it didn’t, I couldn’t have it.
As for the complexities of ownership, I’ve often pointed out on these pages that the money for my first Pitts came from selling my Mustang project. When I started flying Mustangs, I became very aware of the fact that you don’t own airplanes like that. They own you. Support can be overwhelming! I knew for a fact I’d never have the cash available to have someone sitting around, wrench in hand, ready to fix whatever went wrong that week. That shortened my list of airplanes to be owned considerably.
First, a little background: The very short list to follow is the result of a lifetime spent flying as many different airplanes as I could lay my hands on while doing pilot reports. I was actually being paid to fly oddball airplanes! Hard work, but someone had to do it!
Further, for 25-30 years, two of my very best friends, Carl Pascarell (Google him, you’ll love it) and the late Jim Moser at Aerosport in St. Augustine Fl, and I had an informal contest to see who could fly the most different types. Late at night, I’d get a call, “Hey, I just flew a Bushwhacker Quadraplane. Gotcha!!”
When we said “types” flown, I we meant totally different types, not variations. A Cherokee was a Cherokee and a single type, whether 140, 180, 235, etc. Also, by “flying it”, we meant PIC from takeoff to landing, no assistance. I lost track of my count at around 310. Carl is now at 421 (yeah, I’m a piker) and includes stuff I’ll never get to PIC (A-7, A-4s, etc). We think Jim was around 375.
I said all the foregoing to establish context for my own following post-covid wish list.
Speaking of post Covid: brain fog and low energy levels are reportedly common among Covid survivors and we’re still suffering both over a month after testing positive. Otherwise, we’re fine. China is most definitely not on my favorite-country list.
Question one: Favorite airplane flown?
Readers of Thinking Out Loud already know my answer to that. Number One, by a huge margin, is the Grumman F8F Bearcat followed by the Jungmiester at Number Two. Favorite homebuilts (besides Pitts) would be F-1 Rocket, Bearhawk, RV-10 and a few others.
Question two: Ignoring cost, are we buying for utility (cross country), or fun?
If I could only own one airplane, it would be for fun and I already own it. Pitts S-2A. I wouldn’t even upgrade to an S-2C. If not the Pitts, it would be a Cessna L-19. It’s a great fun airplane to fly and goof around in. Plus it has tons of character and history.
Question three: If you hit the lottery, what airplane would you immediately buy?
This one is tough. In the past, (I promise I won’t mention it again) I’ve said it would be a Siai-Marchetti S.F 260 (but would have a much better paint scheme than this one). Aerobatic, fast, carries four (if two are real light weights), flat out beautiful to look at. If not the Marchetti, I’m thinking maybe a 260 Bearhawk. STOL, light aerobatics (they don’t like me to say that), as fast as I’d need (easily 160 mph), comfy, will carry anything I’d want.
Question Four: If you hit the lottery but could only have two airplanes, what would they be?
There she is again! The fun-airplane would be my current S-2A after spending a grotesque amount of money having it totally restored (it has 9,100 hours on it, so it’s as tired as I am). Alternative would be a Pitts S-2C. Having two wings doubles the fun.
The utility airplane could be a 195 Cessna that I’d re-certify in Airshow/Exhibition-Experimental category so I could replace the Jacobs radial with a 360 hp Russian/Romanian Vedeneyev M14 radial. It’s supercharged so would have lots of power at altitude and would easily fit within the stock cowling so those gorgeous lines wouldn’t be changed!
Second choice, as a utility bird, would be a 1957 Cessna 182 (straight tail, low instrument panel) with a Texas Skyways 285 hp O-550 conversion. Easy to fly, carries more than I’d need, big tanks, fast and can easily overcome our always-threatening density altitude out here. Why not a taildragger 180? Because I would expect the AZ Redhead to fly it as much as I would.
That’s it. Send me your list and let’s compare.
With any luck I'll have the Chippy piece to you by end of day tomorrow.
bd
Frankly, I was semi-disappointed in the Spit. It's easily the best handling of the bunch (lands like a high powered light airplane) but the ailerons were heavier than I expected. However, stepping out of one at the gas pump can't be beat!!
bd