Keep the Skinny Birds Flying Safely
The Collegiate solos from the front seat, like the Champ and Interstate Cadet, and the instrument panel is literally a foot from your chin, but they fly sooo nice! There’s a nice one in SE Kansas that just came on the market for $16.5K and a few others out there for a bit more. Check the forum section. Weight isn’t a big concern in the front seat, as you’re quite close to the CG and these old gals get up pretty quick, unless your density altitude is higher than 10K, then they tend to wallow around a bit. I learned this first hand, flying across Wyoming and half of Montana a few years ago.
I had a Star*Lite about ten years ago and we may have crossed paths on Nelson Amen’s Yahoo Group...small world. I used to piss off the tri-gear guys by referring to their nose wheels as training wheels...
Nice Champ, Skip...there are 3 of them at the wee grass strip I’m based at (2B9). We all fly off skis in the winter, as the runways aren’t plowed. Did you build the Starduster? She looks great! Where did you get the turtledeck from? Did you carve your own out of foam and glass it? George Ratray made some really nice ones out of fiberglass, with blue gel coat, but he’s been gone for decades, now.
Andy
Welcome to our wee club for the skinny birds, Skip! If you’re less that 5’ 10” and 180 pounds, you should be quite comfortable in a Collegiate or Flyabout. Are you looking to buy a flying one, or return a basket case to the air? The Collegiate was actually more popular with CPTP students and instructors than the Cub, but her all wood wing became a liability after the war, and so most of them rotted into the ground and were scrapped, but that was the fate for most all light planes in the late 40’s through the 60’s. Look through the forum section and you’ll see we post aircraft for sale there, as well as a lot of other information on the types.
Soft landings, Andy
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