Video: #CubLove On The Water - Summer 2016

 It's really cold outside, and winter doesn't even actually start until 11 days from now... so to brighten my day I finally got around to uploading a short Cub-on-floats video from early September. I got my seaplane rating on October 31st (yay!) after a few training/fun flying sessions thru the late summer. I must say, flying an antique airplane on antique floats off of ancient northern Indiana lakes is some serious fun! 

 I realized my last rating check ride was about 35 years earlier when I got my multi-engine rating. Wow I'm getting old! Anyway, fortunately the checkride went great, which makes me think I should do that kind of thing more often. Like eventually a commercial, hot air balloon, and maybe (but not very likely) an instrument rating. Mostly, I'm just really thankful that I'm actually flying airplanes these days instead of just talking about them.

 Below I've include the video of when we first launched the J-3 off of the trailer at the airport back in July, and also the landing on grass back at the airport at the end of the summer season.

 I've learned, without any doubt this summer, that airplanes and water are a perfect combination : )

#CubLove 

2016: The Year Of The Cubs!

Me flying off Winona Lake during seaplane training in the Warsaw Flying Club J-3 Cub

(click any pic to enlarge)

 The Chicago Cubs just won the World Series, and that is a pretty big deal, but 2016 has been the 'Year of the Cubs' for me in another way that's just as big... since April I have been maintaining and flying a J-3 Cub that's part of the Warsaw Flying Club fleet, AND I'm currently doing a restoration (as full time work) on a 1959 PA-18A Super Cub for one of my brothers who lives in California. For a guy with an 18 year dry spell of being hands-on with aviation, this has been a huge year!

 And earlier this week, on Monday October 31st, I got my seaplane rating in the Warsaw Flying Club's J-3 Cub - Holy Cow!

August 15, 2016, the day the Super Cub arrived from Arizona to the hangar in Indiana

The Warsaw Flying Club's A75 powered 1946 J-3 Cub N88282 back in April 2016 

Must See Video: THE CUBS 2 OSH STORY - 75th Anniversary Gathering In Hartford, WI

click here to download the digital version for half price (just $4.50)

 If you've been paying attention you know I'm a big believer in the Piper Cub as the perfect pure-flying-pleasure airplane. If you aren't convinced of the Cub's 'best airplane ever' status, then watch the video trailer above for THE CUBS 2 OSH STORY, and then I hope you'll either buy the digital download or the DVD of the 32 minute professionally-produced video. You can buy the DVD (with the digital download) for $19.99 or by using the special AirPigz link you can buy the digital download for just $4.50, half its regular price.

 The Cubs 2 OSH Story chronicles the 75th anniversary gathering of Piper Cubs at Hartford Wisconsin back in 2012. Filmmaker Ryan Dembroski has put together a very high quality video that captures the beauty of Cub flying along with the personal stories that really show how the Cub has connected with aviators in a way that honestly no other airplane ever has.

 I very highly recommend that you purchase the Cubs 2 OSH video in one form or another... your love for aviation (and the Cub) will benefit greatly!

click here to download the digital version for half price (just $4.50)
click here to order the 32 minute DVD for $19.99 (includes digital download)

 The trailer below for the Cubs 2 OSH video features the man behind the event (and Cub Air Flight at Hartford) Steve Krog. He shares how the Cub has impacted his life since he was just a kid... truly a life-long love affair!

 I was at Hartford back in 2012 for the Cubs 2 OSH event, and Ryan's video definitely captures all the magic of this very special gathering! Definitely a must-see video : )

 Check out these posts for more on my experience from Cubs 2 OSH: 

Lots Of Cub Yellow At Hartford Wisconsin For 'Cubs 2 OSH'
75 Piper Cubs At Hartford Wisconsin! CoolPix 2Fer

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Warsaw Indiana Rocks A Great Little Airshow! (Plus Hot Air Balloon CoolPix)

(click pic for hi-res)  Friday night at the Warsaw Indiana Airshow  (photo: Andy Kerr)

 This post is really all about having the chance to share the awesome photo above captured in my hometown by local photgrapher Andy Kerr during last weekend's Warsaw Airshow. This was the second year for an airshow at the Warsaw Airport (ASW) and even more than last year's kind-of-a-surprise success, this event was awesome with great attendance! Congratulations to the organizers, volunteers, and sponsors that made it all happen. (note: I wasn't involved in any way other than to participate) - I did however help my son-in-law with the hot air balloon tethered rides on Friday evening and the Saturday morning launch. His balloon is the one in the air in the pic above, tethered late evening rides!

(click pic to enlarge) The C-54 Candy Bomber flew several times and was open to tour

 I've been living in Warsaw Indiana for almost 20 years now... it's a nice, small city of about 14,000 that has a good sized airport due in part to the city being the Orthopedic Capital with major players in the industry headquartered here. While the Warsaw Airport doesn't usually show a fun side, this Friday evening and all day Saturday it was pure passion and sport aviation central! I'm thrilled to see that this is possible right here in my backyard : )

(click pic to enlarge) Great weather Friday, and nice Saturday for airplanes & people

 The big features this year were the C-54 (DC-4) Candy Bomber from Berlin Airlift Histrorical Foundation, plus Dave Folk's F-4U Corsair,  along with a T-33, several T-6's, and a variety of other aircraft on display. The airshow included all the big aircraft mentioned plus a Pitts, a Chipmunk, and a Super Stearman, as well as some fun runway races between cars and airplanes, and a motorcycle racing the Chipmunk as well as doing a wingtip handshake with it! There were also lots and lots of airplane rides sold both days in Waldo Wright's New Standard 4-pax biplane, along with helicopter rides, hot air balloon rides and some local 172 rides. I was very pleased to see how much business they were all doing! Great food and both live and recorded music gave it all a nice festival atmosphere too. 

(click pic to enlarge) 4 passengers at at a time! 1931 New Standard biplane 

Click to read more ...

Video: The 'SLICK' Look At Oshkosh 2014 (Must See!)

 SLICK (Wesley Perkins) has crunched down the footage and his OSH14 video hit the streets (of youtube) over the weekend! This year's version is more of what we've come to expect in the way of a great video that captures the incredible aviation diversity that is Oshkosh, the world's greatest aviation event.

 With such strong attendance this year in both people and aircraft, there's no reason to think that OSH won't remain king of the hill for a long time to come. The reality tho is that Oshkosh isn't about being a mega event, it's really all about people with a passionate love for flying (and building, re-building, or restoring) airplanes of every imaginable kind. It's grass roots. It's down to earth. It's real. If for some reason this isn't the Oshkosh you know, may I suggest that you're doing it wrong. I've experienced 36 or 37 Oshkosh weeks since I was just 9 years old in 1970, and I love my time there every bit as much today as I ever have. 

 Thanx SLICK for another fabulous video reminder of how great Oshkosh Is!

(I've no idea what this A********e thingy is... I've never been to one of those and I never will. To understand what I mean, read reason #1 under 'WHY IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN'  : )

other Slick OSH videos:
OSH13
OSH11
 OSH10 

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Video: More Piper Cub Love From Hartford Wisconsin (HXF) And 'Cub Air Flight'

 I figured while I have your attention on Cub flying and Cub Air Flight in Hartford Wisconsin (from telling you about me finally getting current after 18 years away) I should share this video from about a year ago. It shows why Cub flying in general is so wonderful, and why doing it at Hartfod is nearly perfect. #LoveToFly

CubAir.net

 
 

Like this post? Tell your friends... use the 'share' or 'email' article links below - thanx : )

I'm Current For The First Time In 18 Years! (Living The Cub Life In Hartford WI) 12 Pix

(click pic to enlarge)  Me in the back seat of a Cub... right where I belong!

 When I offered for sale the rare copy of The Long, Lonely Leap in mid-July to help me survive a week at Oshkosh 2014, I mentioned in the post that my plan was to take some of that money and make sure I finally got the flight review that I've been trying to accomplish the last two years. Seems every time I had some cash set aside for that it wound up having to be spent on something ultimately more important. Fortunately for me, the book sold in just a couple days, and I made good on my promise by scheduling a flight review for the Saturday right before Oshkosh began in one of the Cubs from Cub Air in Hartford Wisconsin. Hartford (HXF) is conveniently located about an hour south of OSH, so my trip to the world's greatest aviation event included the chance to finally be a current pilot after an 18 year hiatus.

 I'll admit that I had a pretty high confidence level going into the flight review after having done so well late last August with an hour of takeoffs and landings in a Pitts S2C with Billy Werth in Indianapolis. Prior to those 9 wheel landings in the Pitts, I had probably only had made 5 landings since 1996, and only one of those in a taildragger... but the training I got from my dad when I was just 13 years old in a 150hp Citabria 7KCAB on a narrow runway in Elgin IL burned the basics of 'taildragger' deep into my memory. It really makes no sense to me that I was actually completely comfortable doing takeoffs and landings in the Pitts (the first time I'd ever been in such a high performance airplane) and especially after such a long time away, but I like to point out that I don't think I'm special, I was just blessed to learn at a very young age in an airplane that demands you know how to use your feet. Thanks again dad!

(click pic to enlarge)  Flying a J-3 Cub with a new 'old' EAA logo shirt... Life is good!

 The upcoming flight review at Hartford was also low on the stress factor because I logged a boatload of hours in a clipped wing Cub back when I was 18 and 19. The view and the feel of life in the back seat of a Cub is something I was pretty familar with, even if it had been 34 years since I'd flown one. The clipped wing we had was powered by a 90hp Continental, and the Cubs at Hartford have either 85 or 90hp. A clipped wing J-3 demands more than the 65hp Cubs were built with to get any kind of decent climb out of it, and the full span airplanes benefit greatly from having the extra horsepower as well. I was curious to see if the full span Cub flew significantly different since I really didn't know what it would be like. The only time I'd ever been in a full span Cub was at Hartford two years ago during the 75th anniversary event on the weekend before OSH12, and I just went for a ride to be able to get some good pix of the field-full-of-Cubs from the air.

Check out these posts for some great pix and info on Cubs at Hartford:

Lots Of Cub Yellow At Hartford Wisconsin For 'Cubs 2 OSH'

75 Piper Cubs At Hartford Wisconsin! CoolPix 2Fer

 All of the pictures in this post are actually from Sunday August 3rd, the last day of OSH14. I stopped back by Hartford on the way home to take fellow CampBacon friend Adam Fast and his pilot friend Melinda for rides in a Cub. More info on the rides right after I detail some of the flight review from Saturday July 26th.

(click pic to enlarge) It's hard to beat a Cub with the door open on a summer day

Click to read more ...

AirPigz, Clipped Wing Cubs, And A Phoenix Rising

 After an extended break from daily posting, there's a good chance that I'll be back at it on some sort of regular schedule soon. It's interesting that while in hibernation an opportunity has come along that might be the catalyst for AirPigz to rise up like a Phoenix. So if you've been a fan of AirPigz in the past, keep your fingers crossed that the pieces fit and regularly scheduled avgeekery can begin once again.

 To celebrate I figured it would be appropriate to share this video I found the other day of the exact Clipped Wing Cub that I used to fly when I was a teen. It's the same airplane in the pic I posted when I announced the AirPigz Fequency Change. The short and random video is from a couple years ago, and shows the airplane looking far better than it did when I was flying it back in the early 80's.

 There aren't many flying machines cuter than a Cub with wings that look no longer than the airplane is long (tho they are really still 6 feet longer than the length)

 If things continue to improve in my financial world, there's gonna be an authentic CWC or a homebuilt version with my name on it either this year or next. Money talks... and in my world, money likes to talk about Clipped Wings Cubs!

AirPigz Flight 99, Frequency Change Approved - Good Day

The 19 year old me in 1980 (with hair) in my happy-happy-happy place

 Here's the deal: I've put up over 1,300 posts in a little over five years here at AirPigz but I've generated very little revenue for all that work... I'm tired. Very tired. I started this might-make-a-poor-living project while I was as close to bankruptcy as you can get, but fought to avoid that end. The fight was successful, but as previously stated, I'm tired. Very tired. And as it turns out, I can't seem to turn my work here into even a poor living. Fortunately my work as a ceramic tile installer has recovered somewhat after falling off the cliff in 2008, but that work is very labor intensive and it makes me tired. Very tired.

 So I requested a frequency change from the controller (me) and it was approved. I'm not talking radio frequency, I mean posting frequency. In an effort to keep the pig alive, I'm going to change the format to me posting when I have the time, energy, and something very compelling to share. My rather strong 50,000 page views and 35,000 unique visitors each month may drop off wildly, but my push for traffic has always been in the hope that I could use that traffic to generate revenue. Since I have never found a way for that to work out, what does it matter if the traffic drops off.

 Did I mention that I'm tired? Very tired.

 My financial situation has improved significantly in the last five months, but it's all relative. My attempt to get a loan last week for a measly $5K to buy a beautiful Culver Cadet restoration project that was only 6 months of hard work (and an engine) away from being in the air, was denied. It's gonna take a little longer to clean up the last issues of the hardship devastation from the last 5 years, but things are looking up.

 I need to fly.

 So I'm gonna free up some time and passion for finding suitable ways to get myself off the ground regularly now that I have a little cash to make that happen. I'm gonna free up some time and passion to try to push one of my creative make-a-profit projects forward toward success so I can stop being so tired as a tile installer. And I'm gonna free up some time and passion so I can figure out how I can get my butt back into the backseat of a Clipped Wing Cub (or homebuilt version) as soon as possible. The two years I spent as a teenager flying that Cub in the pic above was the best time of my life.

 I'd really like to find the path back there.

 Lastly, I hope you don't mind that I'm taking some time and passion away from AirPigz... for me.

Video: Wow! Did You See This Cub Land On Skis?

 So, I was searching for a nice video to post today... there was a fresh people are awesome video with a variety of extreme death-defying sports feats including various airborne activities... then there was a new-just-yesterday extreme wingsuit video with an impossibly long-and-low flight down a slope (literally just a few feet off the ground)... and then I stumbled onto this video of a humble Cub on skis landing on a packed and icy patch next to a runway at an airport up in Canada last January.  Sorry extreme freaks, the Cub wins.

 Honestly, I'm worn out on extreme today. I want real. I want doable. I want everyday.

 I want to savor the simple pleasure of a 65hp 1939 Piper Cub touching down gently, right ski first, with a little wind on the nose. I wanna hear the gear legs and skis make noises as they slide across the icy packed snow. I wanna see a skillful pilot simply land a lowly Cub with a gentle hand and ready feet.

 As a guy with a lot of low-n-slow taildragger time, the joy I get from seeing that Cub touch down so gently is a more powerful feeling than seeing a guy fly down a hill at a hundred miles an hour a few feet off the ground in flying squirrel suit. Don't misunderstand, I like extreme, but I love pure and simple.

 Here's to the new extreme: slow, simple, humble, pure... and awesome.

Video screenshot of the Cub's incredible moment of touchdown!

110 years of powered flight... thanks guys!
Dec 17, 1903 - Dec 17, 2013