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If you could change your flying what would it be?

Many of us progress to going faster, higher, more engines, more range.

Going distances it is great.

However, I realise that some of my most enjoyable flying was farm strip flying. I would happily fly a proper short strip machine, and have hankered after an Aviat Husky. Something that will land just about anywhere it is possible to land, but still be fun to fly and have good performance.

There are so many beautiful places to visit but usually not close to big airports, and anyway big usually means some element of hassle.

Take the UK’s own south west. There are almost no conventional airports left, but a whole plethora of wonderful farm strips.

What would you change?

I guess I’m pretty much in the same camp – don’t know when it is time, but my next plane will most likely be something like a carbon cub rather than higher, faster, etc.

Germany

My plan as well. I’d like to visit the many small fields ideally located close to my base (Austria, Slovenia, Italy etc…) in a simple sep (c150 or similar). Fly to fly and see, keep it simple and low cost.

always learning
LO__, Austria

That’s what I did. Glad to see that I don’t seem to be alone, I was wondering whether there was something wrong with me ;)

Private field, Mallorca, Spain

Fly to fly and see, keep it simple and low cost.

@Snoopy agree. A simple tube and fabric (Super Cub, Pacer, Vagabond, Citabria, Auster, Husky, etc) combined with a hangar on a farm strip is ideal. I sold my Super Cub but it went to a better home, an owned hangar on a farm strip.

Interestingly, while the Warrior I now fly cannot land in a small number of the farm strips the Super Cub could visit, it can use around 95%. I never went the fat tyre route and landed on river banks or beaches. At 110 KTAS, it is easily 30% faster and can handle some light IFR. If I need some off airport flying will visit Bolzano.

@aart am glad Spain is allowing non UL to use farm strips, hopefully the Warrior can visit Spain in 2021.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

My first plane was very slow and very charismatic, an ‘airport plane’ as someone once called it because it did its best work around the airport, no need to go anywhere. My longest flight in it was 500 miles away. My current plane is a bit faster, 130 kts TAS and it can go places, but I’ll admit to missing the ‘airport’ style flying. I occasionally think that I’d like something fast, a Bellanca Viking is a regular theme, but then I think about what I actually enjoy doing in a plane… For now I’ve decided to stick with what I have to the extent of planning a $15K paint job next year.

Long term and thinking ahead further, RVs are the best combination of ‘farm strip’ and ‘get there fast’ that I’ve seen. Last week I was again flying back seat with a no-medical-for-now RV friend, and after doing the run and break routine at 180 kts we were slowed to 60 kts on downwind. That in itself is a feat and my friend can fly the thing like that all day, a few knots above stall with the occasional pre-stall buffet from the tail that is characteristic of the RV 8. In this instance he pushed the AoA down just a little and we floated around on a carrier style circling approach to stop in a very short distance. The only thing I don’t like about the flying qualities of that plane is a similar shudder when you do a max rudder slip, and some pulsing back though the stick with max aileron deflection, as with an aileron roll.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 26 Oct 15:19

Fuji_Abound wrote:

I would happily fly a proper short strip machine, and have hankered after an Aviat Husky. Something that will land just about anywhere it is possible to land, but still be fun to fly and have good performance.

I can attest a husky is an absolute blast, and enables you to drop into lots of fun places.

I’ve always liked the likes of a bonanza, or 180/185, to have more speed and internal space. Or something super fun like a pitts. It’d be nice to cover bigger distances more quickly.

Though they would have to be an addition, rather than a total change..

Bush flying in my PC12, one with tailwheel ideally

Last Edited by Ibra at 26 Oct 20:14
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

Ibra wrote:

Bush flying in my PC12, one with tailwheel ideally

Crap, you beat me to it, @Ibra !

That would be exactly my dream – a PC12 kitted out as a bushplane / camper.

A little closer to (financial….) reality: some sort of bush plane to explore the back country. At least where I live, it’s easy to rent pretty much anything from a C152 to a Cirrus (or a Baron, if twins are your thing), but I’m not aware of any place that woud rent you, say, a Carbon Cub and allow you to go bushwacking in it.

I kind of like simpler stuff more and more. Maybe this one:

Or something much more simple, more like that MK4 electric or two stroke. But, a Yak-52 would also do, or a jet

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway
47 Posts
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