Flew my first J-3 today.
 

It was awesome. I never imagined you could fly such a tight pattern. It took me a minute to get used to the taxiing though :eek:

I grew up flying over the fields of Southern Michigan in my grandfathers J-3.

Cool! Hope to get a chance to try one at some point.

J-3
 

Best taildragger to learn in ever made. Also the most relaxing plane to fly for a sunset flight.

Congratulations!
Be careful, or you'll get hooked.

I love a J3. From the first flight in one, I was hooked. I now have a good many of hours in Cubs, and there is nothing else like it. When I finish with my obsession with a 2-winged hotrod, I plan to get me a Cub to just putter around in.

My neighbor just finished a restoration of a NE-1 and has been flying it for about a week now.
I am quite envious.

Any day in a Cub is a good day but a J-3 makes it extra special.

Was at an aviation picnic/fly in on Sunday and this dropped in. DH Tiger Moth.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410270655.jpg

Pretty simple panel.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410270766.jpg

I always wanted to try a Cub or Champ. They look like great little planes for just putzing around the sky in and they barely fly fast enough to crash.

T-crate is also a good option. There is a sweet one on Barnstormers right now for under $30k.

http://home.comcast.net/~guilfoyle72/Taylorcraft-JK.gif
[not this one]

LOL. "T-Crate" almost made me spit out my coffee. I'm easily amused, I guess. I started flying at Evergreen airport when I was 15 (got my private before I got my driver's license) when Wally Olsen was still around. I took a few lessons with him when my primary instructor wasn't available (and for checkouts). That old guy fell asleep on me twice when he was with me!

Anyway, long story short...I learned in taildraggers. Wally had a Champ, 2 Tcraft, and 2 J-3s. I didn't fly a trike until after I got my private. I really miss that kind of flying, and I absolutely love the feel of an old light conventional gear slug.

Ian

I've never flown one; still on my list of things to do.

Forgot about those.

Everyone should learn on conventional gear. I regret that I had not.

I learned mostly in a 150, with a little 172 time thrown in.
But when I moved into a conventional gear plane.... I was in love. I could have walked away from aviation before that. It would have been just another hobby that I tried my hand at. But not after flying a Cub.

I can't even explain it. It was so different. So much better. I want to make an analogy of comparing an air cooled 911 to a Camry, but people will probably take exception to that analogy. A Camry is a car, but a 911 is so much more - and a Cub is so much more than 'just a plane'.

A tail-dragger requires you to be more in tune with what the plane is doing on the ground, and to be more alert to subtle changes; to be "on your toes". Doing it right is a reward. And doing it wrong is instantly punished.

NORDO /X. In the air there is only the fabulous noise of wind on fabric and the sound of the little 4-banger chugging away. The tandem seating makes you feel like the airplane is a natural extension of your body. Everything that it lacks, it makes up for in the whole experience. You'll get nowhere fast, and you won't care. You're there for the flight, not for the destination. And just before the cork stops bobbing, you get to alight gently on the turf for your second dance with the ol' girl.

I hope Wayne is enjoying it every bit as much.

Well put Cash.

There's a local weather guy that lives around here and has a Champ. It has no starter. I love it...he stands near the open door, props with his right hand, and then reaches inside across the cockpit to retard the throttle. It looks completely natural...almost musical...

The only shame is that those old birds were never meant to see pavement. It's getting hard to find grass unless it's private anymore.

Ian

My friend owns the J-3, he has several other planes as well. He is going to donate the time in his J-3 for my tailwheel endorsement, after that I can get a checkride in his Stearman. If I live through that I am going for a seaplane rating in his super cub.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410290291.jpg

There is a caveat though, I have to join the antique aircraft assn. It costs 20 dollars a year.

There's no J-3 in that photo!
You mean he owns a J-3 in addition to those two nice airplanes pictured? Sweet.

OK guys, pls forgive my ignorance... what's a J-3? Picture would be better than a description.

One thing about the Champ, you can fly solo in the front seat.

Piper J-3 Cub - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...x-Piperj3c.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...erCub-75th.jpg

Prrrrrreeeettycool!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410290291.jpg[/QUOTE]

That right there is a PA-18. It's a J-3s bigger brother. :)

no, he has 2 J-3s one more PA-18 a Cessna 206 and some other planes.

Great airplane. I toured the original Piper factory in Lock Haven PA back in the late 70's. We were on the Lock Haven airport dropping off some avionics for repair at a shop on the field and to kill some time we wandered over into the factory. (we didn't reveal we arrived in a Cessna 210!) The things I remember best on the Cub line was the ladies ironing the fabric wings and the windshield machine, which basically was a heated form that the plexiglass was draped over. Our guide told us that after the Hurricane Agnes flood of 1972 the factory crushed all the airplanes that had been submerged and buried them on the grounds. They flew out the ones that could fly but the rest were lost. That literally almost sank the company. I think that little aluminum hill is still there.

Here is a video I shot in 2003 of a J-3 Cub performing banner work.
Video was shot on tape, transferred to digital, compressed for YouTube back when YouTube had tighter video size limits.... and as a result, the quality is pretty bad.

The Cub is in Restricted category, powered by a Lycoming O-235.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AAHSro2pZFI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Another great little plane was the Lubscome 8 series. Back in the day when I could still pass a flight physical I spent many hours building time in a 8E and it was a joy to fly. I personally liked the 8E over the 8A because of the stressed aluminum wings on the 8E. However, I have always loved the J-3 because of the looks and the nostalgia of the plane as I grew up in the era when they were manufactured. If I recall correctly, my uncle purchased his for roughly $900 bucks which included lessons up to his first solo. Back in the late forties and fifties a lot of pilots would buy one and then fly around to different farming communities and teach farmers to fly and also into buying their plane for a small profit.

Cool stories about cubs!
My friend flew his to lock haven last year for the sentimental journey.
Sentimental Journey Fly-In :: Home