The closest is N72619, owned by Robert, a CFI and corporate pilot who keeps it at Danville Airport, about 2.5 hrs away from me by car.
That's a bit of a drive, but it seemed a good opportunity to actually fly a 140 before getting too caught up in purchasing one. Plus, it would be a chance to log some much-needed time in type, which would be needed to insure my own plane, for just my share of the fuel cost (plus about $20 worth of fuel for my car).
Awoke before dawn and hit the road by 0630, hoping to get there around 0900. I did arrive more or less on time, but neither of us had counted on the typical morning fog lingering quite so long, so we had some time to kill before we could go up.
The 60-year-old ship was still in the hangar, with a small ceramic heater perched inside the open cowl and a blanket on top. He also keeps a trickle charger on the battery, as it often takes a while for the plane's generator to top it off. I looked her up and down, realizing that despite what I do know about planes in general, without a mechanic by my side I could not possibly make a decisive inspection as a potential buyer.
But it didn't matter- he'd mentioned it was possibly for sale, but between the price (high-ish, but very reasonable for an overhauled engine with only 300 hrs on it), the VFR-only panel, and the fact that said engine is only a C85 with a venturi-driven vac system, I had already ruled it out almost completely
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She sure looked swell, though- all unpainted except for green trim stripes. Even unpolished it looked very fine.
I did note with some dismay that the baggage area behind the seats, although generous and rated for 80 lbs or so, would not quite do as a seat for Peg. She could probably curl up back there and sleep, but wouldn't enjoy it, most likely. Maybe with a booster cushion under her and the "hat tray" removed, she could peer out.... hard to say.
And wrassling that old dog in and out of there would be a job!!
But no matter- taking Peg on flights in my own plane before she passes on would be wonderful, but not a high priority.
As our wait lengthened, R. suggested we go over to the FBO hangar and warm up in the classroom while I looked over the plane's logs.
Again, I realized I had no idea, really, what I was looking for. But the entries- all the way back to "Day 1" in the late 1940s- looked pretty thorough. However...
He showed me an NTSB record he'd dredged up about the only known accident with this bird: a nasty ground loop in 1971 on a wet runway. "Damage: substantial"; "nose down", it said.
Clearly the right struts were repaired (he pointed out the sleeves welded on the main and jury struts; they must've buckled), and probably the wingtip, but there's no mention of the post-accident repairs in the log, which has a 4-year(!) gap between a routine maintenance stop a few months before the mishap and the next entry, which describes an annual. ::)
Hmmmm... I'm new at this, but that smells fishy to me. :-?
Which is not to malign the present owner- he was very up-front about it. He's tried to find out more, but has nothing other than the NTSB printout. And the plane's been annualed many times and the engine was overhauled since then... so it seems unlikely there's a nasty surprise lurking in that airframe or engine.
Finally, the sun muscled its way through the scattered clouds and burned up some of the fog, so we got the plane ready to fly. He told me to take the left seat, and warned me that it had a "heavy" right wing... a rigging problem that he's been trying to have corrected for some time. I don't remember now if it has any correlation to the repairs done or not, or if he's even sure about that.
I didn't care. I was so eager to finally fly a 140 I was in a kind of dreamlike daze... ever been absorbed in anticipation for so long that the fulfillment of your desire is a sort of shock?
So... there I was, hauling myself into a cabin that at first reminded me of my old friends the C-150 and 152. No surprise there- I knew that the early 150 has almost precisely the same cabin section- in fact, some 140 owners have had 150 doors and seats mounted with little hassle or paperwork.
But the view... hmmm... offhand I'd say "not as good as a Champ, not as bad as a Cub... somewhere in between." Different. However,the curved glareshield makes up for the attitude- you can see quite a bit out those lower corners on either side.
Once the very strong C-85 coughed itself awake and we started rolling along Danvilles' bewildering taxiways (another story in itself), I found it was very easy for me to peer over the nose and not have to s-turn. A little rubbernecking was all that was required. Only big blind spot was the right tire, which would be hidden even without someone in the right seat. I can see why the later A models with "patroller" doors are highly prized.
I lucked out getting my first ride with Robert, I think:he was very happy to let me taxi on my own and make the take-off, and was quite relaxed.
Of course he gave me valuable pointers, but showed no anxiety about letting me control his baby, even though he never actually looked at my credentials.
And get this- the hull is not insured!!
He has a liability policy, under which I can fly but not solo the plane (not enough time in type), but if it were to be damaged... no insurance payout.
I was surprised, but he pointed out that "if I wreck it or whatever the insurance company'll never pay out what it's worth or enough to rebuild it... should be worth quite a bit as recyclable aluminum, though."
Never thought of it that way, but it makes sense. Certainly not true of every plane, but probably true of this classic, which has been very lucky to survive recent decades of ADs and dwindling support that has banished others to that parking spot off by the fence, if you know what I mean. A 140 is still a terrific buy these days, but... not for very long, I'm afraid.
My feet were still a bit un-acclimated to the pedals, which are similar to other Cessnas but not quite the same, but I stopped riding the brakes in time to start the takeoff roll. There was no wind to speak of, although it was clearly SW at about 6 knots just above pattern altitude, judging from the L-shaped plumes of smoke from nearby stacks. He had me put in one notch of flaps (there are two very stubborn schools of thought about flaps in the world of C-140 owners), but if they did anything at all I can't say. R.'s direction for liftoff was to ease the tailwheel just off the ground when it felt ready, then hold that attitude for a sort of in-betweenish takeoff: not quite a "3-point" and not quite a "wheel".
In essence, the C140 will fly at about the same speed that the tail will fly. This, as far as I can tell, is a very, very desirable trait in a taildragger. As long as you don't let it drift.
With two grown men and nearly-full tanks, not to mention the metallized wings (which add 23 pounds to the original weight), we got off the runway in about 600 feet with no wind. With a newb at the controls, mind you. Not bad.
Climb rate, when I peeked at it as we climbed out over dying patches of fog and low scud below a mid-level deck of cumulostratus and misty 5-mile visibilty, was about 600 fpm as we passed through 2000.
I was hoping R. would have a suggestion as to where to go (don't know the area and visibilty was poor), but he just said "whatever you wanna do", so I decided what I wanted to do, for starters, was just see what she could do...while getting a feel for the hardest maneuver: flying straight and level with some precision.
Next: part 2
