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All I Want for ChristmasIs an American Champion Super Decathlon. This one, in fact.
Is that too much to ask? (Yeah, yeah: I know. Write that book. You can blame GE06 for getting the competive juices flowing.) 27 comments to All I Want for Christmas |
Credo"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones "Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche "A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex Relocating? SponsorsNearly 60k hits and 130k page views per month - low rates! Advertise with Lex! Stinkin' Badges For the Effort!Recent PostsPopularPagesTags1st Amendment afghanistan Araby army Blogging buffoonery china culture economy education Flying Friday Musings geopol GWOT Headlines History iran iraq Israel issues media Memory Lane Military Navy norks Oz pakistan people piracy politicians politics Politics and Culture pundits Russia seals sea stories silliness Small Stuff SoCal technology UAVs UK usaf usmc weapons WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better. Spam Blocked |
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Put me in for $100. Now all we need is 1048 other partners (plus whatever sales tax is in WA).
Go for it. I learned to fly in a 7AC Champ which the Decathalon is a descendant of. Of course 65 hp doesn’t exactly snap your head back when you close the throttle on takeoff…..
Cute pic here: http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/130378L.html
I’ll gladly buy a tank of gas after you get it!
Or would you rather a Guniness?
A prop overhaul at 260 TT? Hmmm…
Sexy plane. Nice looking, but let’s get a test flight.
And $100K sounds steep, what with the bottom having dropped out of the used airplane market recently.
daveg, are you thinking “MDH”, a prop strike e.g.?
And Humble1310 (nice upgrade, btw), a test flight sounds just the ticket. Perhaps four or five. Just to make sure.
Since $100k disposable income is a fantasy, and I wouldn’t loan it to myself at the moment.
There’s one at CRQ you can have for cheap
http://tinyurl.com/62mz78
A friend in Ohio has a Decathalon with an O-320 and it’s an anemic lead sled. I don’t see how it would get much better with another 30. The constant speed prop would help some. But, I think, after an F/A 18 you’re gonna be disappointed no matter what.
L-39s are going much cheaper these days and at least has the torch under your heinie end. At over 300 Kts, it would give a better chance at snapping your neck.
Nice pick.
Me and the Pops rented one out of T41 in La Porte Texas. Was kinda fun, but for some reason, tail drag style gives me problems; with that whole 20 hours of flight time I have.
Nonetheless, good ride when your Pops is a 23000 hour guy and keeps you straight and level.
“Is that too much to ask?”… Probably, unless you believe in Santa.
Lex,
Think out of the box. You wouldn’t fly it every hour of every weekend. Find 3 or 4 like-minded friends and form the “Sandy Eggo Flying Club.” Starting to sound affordable? I bet the book would pay for the hobby for at least a couple years.
Well,
If you’re looking for a fixer-upper, there’s this one:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K4-M/ST9sLTBKMyI/AAAAAAAAuoA/pYdAyiGTQp0/s640/3456e5yhdfhdfbcvbc.jpg
Only drawback is it’s here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=TxO&q=deception%20island&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
The ad does say ‘NDH’ (no damage history), but I would make a point of asking why such a ‘young’ (and expensive) prop needed an overhaul. A prop strike would (or should) be considered major damage, and would also have required a full tear-down of the engine.
There’s probably a valid explanation for it, but it’s the kind of thing that catches my eye, particularly on Barnstormers. I made it point to explicitly ask about a prop strike when I bought my RV-6 since the guy selling it had had the plane for a year and only put ten hours on it and the prop was brand spanking new.
Apologies there Lex. You know what I am drooling over. As for the prop overhaul, gravel will do it, as it doesn’t take a prop strike. I have to be careful on my home strip with a wood Sensenich. Do your run up off in the grass and away from the gravel. Also ease the throttle and get some headway before going to full throttle as that will keep you from picking up rocks into your airscrew.
As for the bling, you can get a fairly new Aviat Husky for that price- fun enough but not as much as the Super Decathlon.
AW1 Tim
How’s Lex going to find it? MapQuest/Google Earth won’t calculate directions from SD! Lex’ll get lost! Which
x-way exit should he take?
Tailspin,
If the pilot put it in the tree as opposed to any of the surrounding buildings then he/she did a hell-of-a-good-job. If not, best be lucky than good… .
GEO6
Lex, Not exactly my cup of tea but I do understand the increase in the pluse rate my sympathies go out to you …I’m a hopeless sailboat kind of guy…but as they say…whoever the fu*k they are…” you can seperate the men from the boys by the price of their toys”…which one shall/must you be?… Best
Just as a drill- compare the current cost of living in Kalifornia, and that of other climes. Factor in hayburner costs and see if there is still enough left for AVGAS burner.
Just as a drill, of course.
Humble 1310,
Congratulations!
I started out in an Aeronca 7AC, too. Got one hour of aerobatic training in a Decathlon.
It’s willing to do more, and more energetically, than the 7AC. They’re both fun, though.
Sir,
If it was an option, a Vought F-4U Corsair would be a fitting (albeit grand) choice for you. Yourself being a distinguished Navy airman, it has your name written all over the plane. Sadly, they don’t make them anymore (outside of kits), spare parts are tough to find, and the insurance would be ridiculous. It still be so cool.
Great choice! -Agree with Quartermaster- there is nothing quite like a jet, but our L-29 has become a hangar queen. Avgas is too much. Operating costs for the 8KCAB is <10% of the jet. I love the Delphin (wouldn’t spin it though) but it’s not built for back country flyin’ .
The Decathlon is *plenty *of fun and that one looks great. Hope Santa is good to you.
Or more than that. Of course it needs to be published first…that manuscript I have is getting beat up. A nice hard cover version – autographed by himself, natch – would be a suitable replacement.
Ahem.
Snake: I would assert that Lex is already a man with toys – that BMW bike isn’t any scooter.
That bike is a crucial form of transport! Fuel efficient, and so on. Because of teh CLIMATE CHANGE!!!1!
If you truly wish a F4U, the guys over at the museum refurb hanger at NASNI are working on one right now. Get it before it winds up on the decks of MIDWAY forever!
Yep – the Decathlon is the one, I reckons. It’s also pretty hard to propstrike a tailwheeler without causing some other significant damage, so it’s worth checking out. You’d just about have to stand the thing on its nosecone to do it.. However I have seen near new props ruined because it picked up a larger than average stone, and that’s a case of bad luck rather than bad management. If the prop was replaced there is going to be some paperwork associated, and a LAMEs signature to go with it, which might give some clues as to the cause and subsequent actions.
Kris I resent that remark! My Suzuki Burgman 400 Scooter is nice piece of equipment. I had it on a 2700 mile trip back in September and it rode quite nicely (at up to 95mph) and got over 60mpg.
Actually, I chose it because I, from time to time, have problems raising my leg high enough to fork the bronc. Sometimes the tunnel on the Burgman has to put up with me dragging my foot across it. No idea whassup with the legs, neurologists are puzzled with the on again, off again weakness.
Wilko – I like the L-39 better than the L-29. A bit faster and pressurized. Off course, that just raises the maintenance headaches. We don’t do it to save money, though.
For myself, I’d buy the 7ac Champ if it weren’t for the fact that finding those small continental parts is getting hard. EAA tried to buy the tooling for the C-65, 75, 85, and 95s, but Continental refused and destroyed the tooling. The cranks for those engines are getting a bit hard to find. Of course, you can get an STC for the O-200 in the case of the C-95, and probably for the 85 too. I think the weight is too much for the two smaller engines. I’ve seen 85 and 95s on Champs, so you can probably use the O-200 STC OK. Still, the Champ won’t snap your neck, but for simply boring holes in the sky I don’t think it can be beat. A lot cheaper to operate than the Decathalon as well. I’d still rather have the Kero burner though.