Hi all. My name is Bob and live in Northern California. I do not at this time have my pilot's license. 30 years ago I was active in the hang gliding and ultralight community and a dealer for Seagull in Sacramento. Also at that time I was a student pilot, taking lessons from American Aero Club north of Sacramento. My employer was paying for my lessons but went bankrupt not long after I had solo'ed. I continued with the lessons from my pocket but with no more paychecks I had to stop. Even though it was against club rules, I enjoyed off field landings to rendezvous with my hang gliding and ultralight friends.

Fast forward 30 years to the present and I find myself still wanting to fly, and camp in pristine wilderness areas accessible only by flying in. That is why I'm here, to learn and gain insight. Still need to get my license, but since I'm older and worry about being able to keep it due to high blood pressure and other things that come with age, it looks like the new Sport Pilot's License will be the ticket to ensure a good flying history into old age.

I know this license will limit the STOL planes that I would be able to fly but from what I have read the CH 701 and 750 would be a good candidate. I learned on tricycle gear and want to stay with it. The main drawback is the 1320 lb MTOW, with me weighing 260 lbs, full fuel, doesn't leave a lot for the camping gear.

I can't seem to find any Sport Pilot flight schools that use the CH 701 or 750, I know to use kit built aircraft the flight school needs to go through a lot of FAA paperwork, as a CFI would have to if he was using the same type of plane for instruction.

For now I'll just enjoy reading what others have posted on this forum, thanks for allowing me into the group.


Bob

Welcome and good luck!!

ATXCitab, thanks for the welcome, been reading the posts on the forum, good group of folks.

Welcome Bob, get the license then come and fly with us.
Good luck with your adventures.

Welcome, and good luck on getting your license!

I fly a Savannah, which from what I've been told an improved version of a 701... check em out at http://fly-buylsa.com/ figured I might as well throw that out there since most people do not even know they exist. Flying by your self you can easily carry plenty of camping gear, with another person your limited to "airplane backpacking", though they do sell a "belly pod" that I believe adds an extra cargo compartment...

chosstronaut wrote:Welcome, and good luck on getting your license!

I fly a Savannah, which from what I've been told an improved version of a 701... check em out at http://fly-buylsa.com/ figured I might as well throw that out there since most people do not even know they exist. Flying by your self you can easily carry plenty of camping gear, with another person your limited to "airplane backpacking", though they do sell a "belly pod" that I believe adds an extra cargo compartment...

I've read about the Savannah, it would be a fine choice for me, and the only reason I didn't mention it was most all here would know about CH 701s and not Savannahs. How do you like it? How many hours and typical mission? Do you agree with this review and comparison with the the CH 701? http://www.stolspeed.com/id/49

I've seen the belly pod, thought it was an owner/builder's one-off, didn't know it was being offered as a secondary optional kit.

Funny, Corvallis will be a future destination for plane trips as a long time friend moved there about 3 years ago.

deckofficer wrote:I've read about the Savannah, it would be a fine choice for me, and the only reason I didn't mention it was most all here would know about CH 701s and not Savannahs. How do you like it? How many hours and typical mission?

I've seen the belly pod, thought it was an owner/builder's one-off, didn't know it was being offered as a secondary optional kit.

Funny, Corvallis will be a future destination for plane trips as a long time friend moved there about 3 years ago.

I love it, it really has been a dream come true, as much as I'd love to own a Maule, the operating costs of the Savannah are about at cheap as it gets. There really is no way I could afford to own a certified airplane at this point in my life.

Here is a link to my video page: http://www.youtube.com/user/chosstronaut/videos That should give you a good idea of what you could do with it.

I don't know the full details on the belly pod, I've been meaning to call to learn more about it, if I find out more, I'll spill the beans.

If you ever make it to Corvallis, I would be more than happy to take you for a ride in the Savannah.

Cheers!
Tyler

Tyler,

You got back to me faster than my edit of my post, so I'll repost, do you feel this comparison review of the Savannah and CH 701 is accurate in your opinion? http://www.stolspeed.com/id/49

I would enjoy both taking you up on your generous offer and seeing my old friend, but I'm caring for my 94 year old dad and am a bit if a shut-in. I did get up to Corvallis 2 years ago to visit Craig (my friend), his new wife and home.

deckofficer wrote:Tyler,

You got back to me faster than my edit of my post, so I'll repost, do you feel this comparison review of the Savannah and CH 701 is accurate in your opinion? http://www.stolspeed.com/id/49

I would enjoy both taking you up on your generous offer and seeing my old friend, but I'm caring for my 94 year old dad and am a bit if a shut-in. I did get up to Corvallis 2 years ago to visit Craig (my friend), his new wife and home.

Yup, that sounds about right to me. Having never flown a 701 I can't really compare my self... Mine has slats so its probably an even better STOL performer than the VG model they refer to, though a couple kts slower at cruise. One thing I have heard is the Savannahs have significantly better view due to they way the wings carry through the top of the cockpit.

Well I won't be going anywhere, so if you find the time, I'll still be here

chosstronaut wrote:

deckofficer wrote:Tyler,

You got back to me faster than my edit of my post, so I'll repost, do you feel this comparison review of the Savannah and CH 701 is accurate in your opinion? http://www.stolspeed.com/id/49

I would enjoy both taking you up on your generous offer and seeing my old friend, but I'm caring for my 94 year old dad and am a bit if a shut-in. I did get up to Corvallis 2 years ago to visit Craig (my friend), his new wife and home.

Well I won't be going anywhere, so if you find the time, I'll still be here

When is the sunny season for Corvallis? lol Seems the last time I was up there around late July, it was sunny through all of Southern Oregon but raining for my short time in Corvallis. My friend Craig has been a lifelong aviation nut but due to family and job has never got to experience plane ownership or flying GA. 30 years ago his first date with his 1st wife was to watch me hang glide at Camp Far West in Northern California.

Many times the advice offered was "Identify your mission, then shop for the right plane".

This is obviously sound advice. You said you wanna go camping. You'll also want to flightsee & just fly to feel the wings. Guestimate how many actual camping (or carrying loads) trips you'll do VS just flying alone. If the %age is low enough, you could plan to do a couple trips to the camp areas & still have the "right" plane for the majority of your flyin'. (Or go camping with someone with a cargo plane)
All the best to ya, & congrat's for keeping that desire!

NimpoCub wrote:Many times the advice offered was "Identify your mission, then shop for the right plane".

This is obviously sound advice. You said you wanna go camping. You'll also want to flightsee & just fly to feel the wings. Guestimate how many actual camping (or carrying loads) trips you'll do VS just flying alone. If the %age is low enough, you could plan to do a couple trips to the camp areas & still have the "right" plane for the majority of your flyin'. (Or go camping with someone with a cargo plane)
All the best to ya, & congrat's for keeping that desire!

That is what I'm doing. There will be a lot of flying just to be flying and practicing short field TOs and landings locally. I plan on moving to Arizona where on my retirement I'll still be able to afford a home in a air park unlike the cost of airport homes in California.

As to carrying a big camping load, maybe I'll get lucky and hook up (for flying that is) with Skychick and she can carry the heavy load in her turbo 206. A guy can dream, right? Is Skychick a member of this forum?

The 701 and 750, if built properly, are fairly well assured to meet the performance numbers in their brochure. There are enough of them flying that what you will get after you finish yours is fairly well documented and agreed. This should be comforting.

Welcome aboard! I lurked on this site for quite a while before getting my Maule. There is lots of good advice and tons of experience here. Given your limitations, you might want to consider adding Rans aircraft to your wish list in addition to the Zenith. Several members here fly the Rans S7 and the Rans S20 is generating some enthusiasm even though it hasn't flown yet. I've been to the Rans factory and I was impressed. I just needed the payload available with the Maule. Enjoy your dreaming and planning, and good luck with finally getting your license. By the way, I flew both Wills Wing Sport, and Moyes Extralight hang gliders in the 80s and early 90s. Backcountry flying is the most fun I've had aviating since those days!

EZFlap and Flyhound thanks for the comments. I do have a question for you or any other folks and that is besides having to trust someone else's workmanship and needing an A&P for routine maintenance and annuals, are there any other drawbacks to buying a built and flown kit plane from the used aircraft market?

deckofficer wrote:EZFlap and Flyhound thanks for the comments. I do have a question for you or any other folks and that is besides having to trust someone else's workmanship and needing an A&P for routine maintenance and annuals, are there any other drawbacks to buying a built and flown kit plane from the used aircraft market?

In my mind workmanship and annuals are the only drawbacks to buying a used experimental. You can do you own maintenance; the only thing you need an A&P for is the annual. Trusting the work of another individual may be a bigger deal than you think. It is easy to say you trust it but until you are flying over inhospitable terrain you won't really know how you feel about it.

Trust but, verify.

whee wrote:

deckofficer wrote:EZFlap and Flyhound thanks for the comments. I do have a question for you or any other folks and that is besides having to trust someone else's workmanship and needing an A&P for routine maintenance and annuals, are there any other drawbacks to buying a built and flown kit plane from the used aircraft market?

In my mind workmanship and annuals are the only drawbacks to buying a used experimental. You can do you own maintenance; the only thing you need an A&P for is the annual. Trusting the work of another individual may be a bigger deal than you think. It is easy to say you trust it but until you are flying over inhospitable terrain you won't really know how you feel about it.

I guess besides a visual inspection I am going to be dependent on the original air worthiness inspection? Help me out here because what I have been considering is buying a used kit plane. Hopefully well sorted out, popular, with a lot of history.

Tyler,

I've viewed about 1/2 of your videos that you posted a link to above. Nice camera and editing work, and always being land bound in your area I didn't know what a scenic flying area Corvallis is and a complete surprise as to all the off field landing possibilities. Even though you appear quite young (or I'm just old), it sure looks like your truly dialed-into your Savannah and it would be my pleasure to take you up on your generous offer. You should know I'm a big 'ol boy, 6' 1" 265 lbs, so my weight will dog your plane's performance for take offs and landings.

After about the 5th video I watched it looks like you enjoy sharing flights with folks, and we have that in common. I have a 1923 Ford Track-T that if someone asks for a ride they will get one. As you probably have been responsible for giving some people their very first ride in a small airplane, I have given folks their first ride in a hot rod. The Track-T weighs only 1790 lbs but is currently powered by a 427 built to 526 hp and 556 lb/ft going into a Tremec 5 speed manual and Jag IRS 3.54. A true 9 second street driven car with a decent idle and good street manners. Maybe for my flight I'll drive it up and see if you want a ride in it, if not then I'll drive the comfy car, a Caddy CTS-V 556 hp 6 speed manual, you choose.