Ted's Aircraft Shop
The Story of Aeronca Champ (L-16A) N2777C
page 2
Off to the shop of Dan O'Donnell, a real expert in Champs and Citrabrias, at Delaware Airpark (Cheswold) (33N). He found the spar in good condition, but the fabric was not appropriately attached. The wings had to be recovered. Don Strickland and I renegotiated and the job was given to Tony Markl. I took delivery of N2777C in July 2007 with its newly covered wings.
I practiced on a wonderful grass field at Smyrna, DE to get the feel of the L-16A. It flew like Tony's with one exception. Tony has the "no bounce" gear which means that in his aircraft you land twice, once when the wheels touch and a second time when the gear settles. I bought a Garmin 296 to navigate my way home to Pittsburgh. On the first flight with Sue, we landed at Cheswold on the paved runway in a crosswind and promptly headed for the bleachers doing a beautiful ground loop on the way. Nothing hurt but my pride. I found that N2777C had a full swiveling tailwheel, the detent having worn away over the years. Dan and I negotiated for a used Maule locking tailwheel.
Now to get the plane home to Zelienople. New to the Garmin and wary of the Allegheny Mountains, I plotted a careful course with plenty of landmarks. The plane burns 4.5 gallons per hour at cruise; the 13 gallon tank gives me about 2 hours of flight time with 30 minute reserve. On Sunday, August 12, I started from Smyrna for Zelie. I went up the Chesapeake, up the Susquehanna river, and stopped at York Airport (KTHV), an hour and a half out. A lunch break and then another stretch to Chambersburg (Franklin County) (N68). (The Gettysburg Battlefield is a sight from the air.) Sue picked me up in the car and we drove back to Washington for the night. The next day I drove to Chambersburg to find the ceiling low and the winds high, not a good day for flying a slow taildragger with uncertain climb capability.
Tuesday, August 14, proved to be the ticket. I left my car at Franklin County airport and took off for the Alleghenies. I worried about finding emergency fields, but I found that the Alleghenies are a series of ridges. When you climb up one side of the ridge, there is plenty of space to glide back to farm fields. And over the top, a glide will take you to farm fields in front. Fortunately I never had to check this theory. In less than two hours, I landed at Somerset (2G9) with no one around but an automatic gas pump. Another two hours, dodging the Pittsburgh Class B airspace and Latrobe (Arnold Palmer) Airport, and I was home at Zelienople. Needless to say, I was greatly relieved.