The Tri-Pacer in my avitar

[duflochy]

I found this old bird in a barn in southeast Georgia in 1978...I bought it and got it put back together enough so I could hopefully fly it out of the pasture it was in....I drove around the pasture in my pickup enough to find the longest potential runway, about 700 feet....

This was my 7th airplane, all of the others had been junk and this was no exception...

I reved her up and proceded to take off and of course the runway wasnt long enough so I took out an electric fence wire at the end.....Part of it was still with me when I touched down on the paced runway 10 miles away....

Everything seamed to be in working order so later that day my Son wanted to go to ride in it and I took him around the pattern in it....As I turned on base leg and reduced power the engine came apart....I hung all the flaps out and made a dive for the runway......The big fan that keeps the pilot cool had stopped turning.....I barely made the numbers on the runway....

I tore the engine down and found a busted piston and bent valves, I fixed all that as the engine only had 200 hrs on smoh anyway.....

The cover was bad so I spent several months recovering and rebuilding the interior as well.....

I had a friend that was an AI who supervised my work and he was satisfied enough to write me a letter of recomendation to the FAA to get my A@P ....

I never liked flying this airplane, it had the glide ratio of the proverable milk stool.....

 

[muleman]

Do you still own it and fly it?

 

[duflochy]

There came a time a couple years later when I had 3 cropdusters and the tripacer setting on the ground and none of them was making me any money....It was a dry year, the economy was bad and money got tight so something had to go....I felt like the tripacer was the one I needed the least so I sold it......I had a crash in '80 and never fully recovered so after struggling on until '82 i finnaly sold everything and quit.....I seldom fly anymore simply because I don't get the opportunity.....I still hold a commercial pilots license and A and P but I dont have a medical any more....I can still fly light sport aircraft as long as I got a drivers license but not commercially....

 

[fubar]

Short winged piper, I got a little time in that and in a Pacer (converted tail dragger). Fun to fly, well.... as fun as anything, but a good little, solid, airplane. not much for high altitude runways, but converted to a pacer, 160 hp, extend flaps with seals and henderson droop wing tips made a whole different machine, not a super cub, but it has a little more respect that way.
lol.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES