I happened to watch part of this goofy old movie on TV the other day, and lo & behold the two main characters were landing out on the desert in a fat-tired little bush plane. A pretty common sight these days, even in the lower 48, but maybe not so much back in 1988. I was kinda surprised to see that it was an Aeronca Champ, not a Cub, with the original yellow & orange paint scheme & a set of fat tires-- maybe 26" GY blimpies? Didn't get a good look at the front end so I couldm't tell if it was a lycoming powered super champ, but pretty cool none the less.

I admit, I watched this today on Netflix. The flying scenes were not half bad, there was even some quality chase cam.

Melanie Griffith was pretty cute in her younger years. I was just sad that she didn't take it all off.

She was WAY hot.

Unfortunately, my moist-ish dreams were dashed when she told the guy to get the plugs out of her Mustang for the airplane. *sigh*

Caught the tail end of this movie (the flying scenes) on TV again the other night.
Who can recall what fat tires were available back in 1988?
I guess maybe an early version of Bushwheels was around then, but this was before Bill Duncan took the business to Oregon
and BW's became the big thing they are now.

hotrod180 wrote:Caught the tail end of this movie (the flying scenes) on TV again the other night.
Who can recall what fat tires were available back in 1988?
I guess maybe an early version of Bushwheels was around then, but this was before Bill Duncan took the business to Oregon
and BW's became the big thing they are now.

We used Goodyear Airwheels loooong before even the early Bushwheel’s.

Most common Airwheels were 25 inch, but there were also 30 and if memory serves, 36 inch.

None were approved, but lots of FA.

MTV

That Champ in Cherry 2000 was owned and flown by Jim Lasley out of Flabob. Jim flew air shows with it back in the 70’s & 80’s That included a roof top landing on his van. I only flew it a few times but I recall it had an O-360 and was a great flying Champ. Not sure what happened to him as I quit working for him back in 1992.

Definitely says Goodyear and looks bigger than 26's to me.

I’ve heard tell that there really isn’t much performance difference between a Champ and the J3. I Don’t have a frame of reference as I’ve only flown a Champ, never a J3.

180Marty wrote:

Definitely says Goodyear and looks bigger than 26's to me.

Those are Airwheels, look like 25s.

MTV

I forgot to mention that Jim also flew the Champ in to the house in the movie “The world according to Garp”.

I found this video on YouTube of some of his old airshow and TV footage.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6kF8qDu-I_s

Marshall

This thread reminded me that I saw these for sale recently. Excellent condition 29" Goodyears

https://alaskaslist.com/-3/posts/10_Tra ... Tires.html