I had my fair share of “exciting” landings learning to fly the Champ — that oleo strut (pogo stick would be more appropriate) is not the slightest bit forgiving.

The relatively unyielding spring-steel landing gear took all most of the excitement out of bringing her down. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I find your opinion of the “No Bounce” gear interesting. The Citabria I’m flying, (serial #7,a 1965 model) is equipted with the same gear as the champ. In my first two hours I find that it does not pogo stick me, but it’s hard for me to tell when it’s (the airplane) “down” because there is a lot of travel in the gear and just because it touched the ground dosen’t mean you’re down. I’m used to the spring steel gear on a 172 or 150 though. I flaired out a little long and high the other day and landed tailwheel first. The mains were probably 8-10 inches off the ground and it just flopped on with no trouble. If that had been on spring gear (steel or newer aluminum) I would have been in for a ride. Just my thoughts so far…
Josh

I had my fair share of “exciting” landings learning to fly the Champ — that oleo strut (pogo stick would be more appropriate) is not the slightest bit forgiving. After soloing and making a few laps around the pattern on my own, my dad sent me off to the practice area just to fart around and enjoy the fact that flying is more than just practicing landings. It was probably a half-hour flight, I just pointed the nose in whatever direction *I* wanted it to go. Sure felt like a few hours and the smile on my face didn’t fade for days. We parked the Champ for the last time after that flight and moved up to the Citabria to continue training.

The Citabria felt like a rocket ship and served me well to finish the remaining 30 hours needed to get my ticket. The relatively unyielding spring-steel landing gear took all most of the excitement out of bringing her down. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Best of luck for that new endorsement!