Piper Cubs

[Jeff Hartmann]

Graceful entry...

[Stephanie Belser]

Fly’n a Piper J-3 Cub is about as much fun fly’n as fly’n gets. And dat's a fact

Been 27 years since I last flew one. I did a tailwheel refresher at KLWM. With an airport 5 miles from my home, had to drive 60 miles each way for that. The airplane was a L-4; don't know if it was an original one or a wannabee.

After I got checked out, I went flying with a friend out to the east of LWM. We hit a bump and the wet compass jumped off its pivot. Found I-95, followed that northbound until we hit the Merrimack River, followed that to Haverill, MA, then called the tower on the handheld radio that the FBO provided. For some reason, the tower couldn't hear me, but Ground Control could.

They told me to report somewhere. I told them that the compass had broken, so if it was all the same to them, I'd follow the river until I was on top of the airport. They didn't seem to be overly surprised at that.

Good times.

[Tom Charlton]

Graceful entry...

Hi Jeff and others,

Watching people trying to figure out how climb into or extricate themselves from a Cub I often think of The Hokey Pokey tune.

Regards,
Tom Charlton

[Jeff Hartmann]

Now I'll have that in my head all day....but funny!

[Tom Charlton]

the wet compass jumped off its pivot. . . . Good times.

Hi Stephanie

The Aircraft compass in my Cub always says: 350° ish no matter what direction I’m headed. The crude automotive compass stuck on the windshield is marginally helpful. Calibrated with 15° ticks and no lubber line. Somehow managed to get me 2,300mi from El Cajon, CA to Sarasota, FL.

Regards,
Tom Charlton

[Tom Tyson]

... and then there was the restoration of NC98790. I've only found the wing photos so far.

[Stephanie Belser]

The Aircraft compass in my Cub always says: 350° ish no matter what direction I’m headed. The crude automotive compass stuck on the windshield is marginally helpful. Calibrated with 15° ticks and no lubber line. Somehow managed to get me 2,300mi from El Cajon, CA to Sarasota, FL.

Heh. Flew from MA to FL a couple of times. Easy-- find the Hudson River, fly down that until reaching the ocean, then keep going with water to port and land to starboard. Hard to get seriously lost.

Out here, it'd be nice if they put bigger letters on the water towers.

[Mase Taylor]

Heh. Flew from MA to FL a couple of times. Easy-- find the Hudson River, fly down that until reaching the ocean, then keep going with water to port and land to starboard.

Or the other way around.

[John Tucci]

My time in the J-3 was short. Started lessons in the late 60’s at Zhanns in Amityville, LI. A couple of lessons it and they got brandie new Piper 140’s. It was love at first flight. They had a radio, which no one used...

[Ralph Jones]

I did my PPL in 1960 at Mary Gaffaney's school on the old Tamiami airport in Miami, mostly in Champ 7FC's with a little J-3 time. Embry-Riddle, across the field, had a J-3 fleet so big they staggered the hours at 20-min intervals. At the end of a session the entire pattern would land, form up in parade, and head straight across the taxiable grass to their ramp, tails up if it was upwind.

One day I noticed their movement looked kinda funny...sure enough, they were all a foot off the ground, with an occasional bounce.

[Ray Tackett]

Got my tailwheel endorsement in a Cub and came back for ski season. Lotsa fun, but neither Cub nor Stearman prepared me adequately for taxiing a DC-3.

[Randy Sohn]

Four aircraft: Two J-3 Cubs,

Duz yours have a metal spar or a wood spar? Mine's a 39 wood spar.

best, randy

[Séamas Mulholland]

... The Hokey Pokey tune[FONT="Times New Roman"].

Hightech version, sorta from Germany.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwaxWoJPUC0

[Tom Charlton]

Duz yours have a metal spar or a wood spar? Mine's a 39 wood spar.
best, randy

Hi Randy,

* Metal spars although wood would have been ok with me.
* Upgraded with a C-85. Much more gooder than a 65!
* An extra 10.5 gal usable from a wing tank. Made a huge diff on the California ~ Florida ferry flight.

Regards,
Tom Charlton

[Tom Charlton]

Hightech version, sorta from Germany.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwaxWoJPUC0

Hi Séamas,
Now that’s funny<grin>!

Regards,
Tom Charlton

[Randy Sohn]

but neither Cub nor Stearman prepared me adequately for taxiing a DC-3.

Chuckle, duz anything?

Come to think of it, after ya'got REAL good at that, then you could try the "running mag check".

best, randy