When you are building, you are often not flying.  I flew several times a week until the end of 2004, getting my instrument rating and flying the Cessnas and Pipers of the Condor Aero Club at Zelienople Municipal Airport (KPJC).  Then I took a job with the federal government with the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC.  That was the end of my flying for awhile.  By the middle of 2005 I was going stir crazy--neither flying or finding much time for building.  Seeking to maintain my taildragger currency, I searched the web for training close to Washington.  I found Tony Markl flying an Aeronca Champ L-16A out of Ridgely Airpark, Maryland (KRJD).  Tony is a remarkable individual, even if he has to tell you himself.  He flew Air Force jets and flew the big jets for PanAm.  While retired officially, he keeps himself busy training in the Champ and restoring planes that need recovering and repair.  Tony has an opinion on everything in the world.  See his column called "One Man's Opinion" in the Aeronca Aviator, the magazine of the Aeronca Aviators Club.  Tony is an exacting instructor with specific procedures for preflight, propping, and flying.  He is the best despite his opinions.  I learned how to really fly from him and fell in love with the Aeronca L-16A.  Other pages will describe the L-16A, but in summary the Army Air Corpos bought several hundred Aeronca Champs in Air Corps colors in 1947 with the Continental C-85 engine instead of the Continental A-65.  That is the plane that Tony uses.  I learned to fly without the benefit of instruments and really learned to fly in a coordinated manner, feet as well as arms.  I had the benefit of glider training, but still the Aeronca champ does not fly well without coordinated feet.  After a year of training with Tony, I had to have an L-16A of my own.