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Aeronca Champ N1642E
Photos and Adventures
Added 5/22/12,
Updated 12/2/2014
Click on images for a
larger view.
November 29, 2014. My daughter Joanna came
down from New York for Thanksgiving and we went for a morning flight. Temperatures were in
the low 40's - comfortable for flying yet cool enough for crisp performance.
It's beginning to look like winter is approaching as we taxi out.
November 16, 2014. Ready to go see the
fall colors and go find breakfast. Notice that the wheel pants are off.
More photos from our flight can be seen
here.
November 11, 2014. I can't think of
anything better than having "simply up" as a destination. Today I took my
wife Sukey up for a flight to view the fall covers in our area. She loves
to go up and look around. We recently celebrated our 37th wedding
anniversary. Sukey has supported my aviation interest since day one.
I'm a lucky guy. Photo on the left (taken earlier) by Scot Shealer , on the right by Sukey
Starkey.
October 20, 2013. My friend from
Frederick, Maryland, Scot Shealer, flew down to visit VA99. Here, he tries
out the cockpit of the Champ. Got headroom? Scot is a member of the
Sky-Hi Flying Club based at
KFDK and flew down with his
Dad, Sheldon Shealer, in the club's Cessna Cardinal. Before I moved to
Virginia, I was a member of Sky-Hi. At that time, the club had a C-172.
Photo by Sheldon Shealer.
June 10, 2013. Not all adventures are
of the flyng variety. I enjoy working on the plane. Here, I have
used an engine hoist to lift the airframe so I can service the
oleo struts. These struts,
often neglected on Aeroncas, should be inspected and serviced regularly.
Since this was the first annual inspection since buying the plane last year, I
worked with my mechanic to go over the plane very
thoroughly from prop to tailwheel. We made a few upgrades, including
adding a shoulder harness set and replacing the oil and fuel hoses with new ones
covered with fire sleeves. We sent the right muffler out to
Dawley Aviation for repair, replaced the
tachometer drive oil seal, installed a new carb heat cable and installed a new air filter.
I'm fortunate to be able to work under the supervision of an A&P who lives just
across the runway.
May 15, 2012. This photo
shows off the paint scheme, borrowed from the 1949 15AC Aeronca Sedan. A number
of people have commented that the Sedan paint scheme looks good on the Champ.
I agree.
May 15, 2012. Here's another photo,
taken outside of our hangar.
May 12, 2012. Photo taken at Hummel
Airport, W75, Topping Virginia. Mike Roe (in the Stinson) and I flew to
Hummel for breakfast, then to Petersburg, Virginia for lunch, then with a gaggle
of planes from Petersburg to Merlin Aerodrome in Amelia, Virginia.
May 5, 2012. On a clear day, we climb
out in the Champ over the creek just past the south end of our runway. We
have 70+ foot trees at either end of our
2200 foot airstrip.
The strong 85+ horsepower Continental allows comfortable operation with two
adults. My wife Sukey took this photo from the back seat.
April 15, 2012. Today we bought a
Champ! I had admired Frank Isbell's 1946 Aeronca Champ, a frequent visitor
to our airstrip, for some time. When he was ready to sell, I jumped at the
chance. The C-85 was installed under the Lasher STC. This one has the
O-200 "stroker" crankshaft, rods and pistons installed under the Aircraft
Specialties STC. It has a Skytec lightweight
electric starter. There is no alternator or generator, but a battery powers the
starter, a portable Garmin GPS, a portable Icom radio and a PS Engineering
intercom. The dorsal fin permits an increase in gross weight to 1300.
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