LadiesLoveTaildraggers

Who would guess – there’s a day called “Poem in Your Pocket Day” and it just happened to be this week. (You can learn a lot listening to PBS while driving to work!)  The day slid by unnoticed on the blog but it got me thinking about the lovely poem, written by our very own lady taildragger pilot Melinda Hooper, that says it all so beautifully.

Melinda flying her Champ

ODE TO A CHAMP

In the fall of nineteen-ninety

On a mild November day,

I lost my heart to a little white Champ

As it flew me up and away.

So unhappy was I that I didn’t know how

To myself take a plane to the sky.

And I hadn’t the funds if I did have the skills,

To buy my own aircraft to fly.

Well, after a while I’d mastered the art

Of piloting planes in the blue.

But to own a champ – now that was a thing

How to manage I hadn’t a clue.

For that kind of airplane was rising in price

So much faster than I could save.

By the time I had enough money, I feared,

I would have one foot in the grave!

Some years went by and I flew the planes

With the third wheel on the nose,

But my heart was still with the tailwheel types -

I just had to have one of those!

My funds grew slowly, and from time to time

I’d think that maybe I could

Find a Champ somewhere that I could afford,

But doubted that ever I would.

And then one day – YES, there it was!

A Champ just perfect for me.

The plane, the location, the price was right

Oh, could it really be?

I conferred and thought, had mechanics look,

And after some anxious time,

The deal was made, registration sent -

Eight-Two-One-Four-Seven was mine!

It needed some work and some TLC

To achieve a return to the sky,

But several months later, inspection complete,

The airplane was ready to fly.

Now I swing the prop, bring the engine to life

And take flight whenever I please.

I go up with the birds and the clouds so high

And look down on the tops of the trees.

Yes, I take off and fly in my very own Champ,

From a pretty grass runway, no less!

On the fine autumn day those eight years ago,

Who would have been able to guess?

Melinda Hooper & twin sister and also Champ pilot, Melissa Adams

By “Lindy” (Melinda Hooper)

Autumn 1998

I’d like to introduce you to college student Alicia Brenhag and her dad Jeff Brenhag, and welcome them to Ladies Love Taildraggers. You’ll realize as you read the following comments that it was Jeff who sent in the info about his daughter Alicia who is not yet a pilot. Jeff  flies out of Winsted (10D) & Hutchinson (KHCD) in Minnesota and is passionate about aviation and anxious to pass that love on to his daughter. 

From Jeff: I went to the link and filled in what I could for her. I’m hoping this will help inspire her and show her many of the facets of aviation available for young adults and women.

Aria,the hot air balloon!

This is my daughter Alicia who is presently a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. I have been flying since I was 14 and have been slowly introducing her to the amazing world of aviation so as not to scare her away. My friend Marv took her flying in his Champ which he’s been flying for 39 years.

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When she’s not so busy at school maybe I can get her to slow down and obtain her license. She’s an accomplished scuba diver at present and I think the hot-air balloon and sailplane should be next.

Alicia in Grob 102

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I’m hoping this website will inspire her more and that she will see other ladies doing what they love and that aviation is a passion and a hobby just as much as it is a career choice.

Thanks sooooooo much!

Jeff Brenhaug

Barbara Kirmsse us based at KRIR, Flabob Airport, Riverside, California.

My Friend The Champ

Ready to go!

My Bill, My Inspiration

Bill's Bonanza A36

Champ N9872Y

Pres HW Bush & Me Kennebunkport, ME 2011

Love That Cub! The First Airplane I Flew!

Love This Champ, Too!

A Perfect Day to Fly a Tail Dragger in So Cal

It was a big day in the UK recently when one of our own lady taildragger pilots got to fly her newly rebuilt Champ again! An engine failure forced Nic Orchard to put her Champ down in a cow patch, dead stick, back in July 2008 and the insurance company totaled the aircraft. But that was not to be the end of G-TECC. Nic bought it back from the insurance company and the rest is history. Please take a look at the voyage of Nic’s “Champ Chump”.

A happy looking Nic Orchard

I promised to let you know, so…………………….

……after 1,192 days, I finally got to fly ‘CC’ again (Champ Chump!).

Of course, the weather since that one single flight has developed into a seriously non-champable pattern, so please forgive me if I relish this bit.

The full story is an awful lot longer than anyone would want to see, read or hear, but some of the restoration pics are on Nic\’s Pictures  .

I owe the current frabjous state to a very experienced gentleman called Brian, who peeps from under a hat here and there.

1946 Aeronca 7AC Champion, G-TECC

The story is as you surmised, although the cause for the engine failure was quite interesting, especially as the engine had just 120 hours since overhaul and about 5 since a refurbished carb was fitted.

A very sad story, but now we know why the leg collapsed and why the engine failed in the first place, it's easier to bear.

The full story is in the AAIB report, attached, except what was found later during the repairs.  The gear collapsed because, it would seem likely, there was a long time pre-existing crack in the right leg, missed by every one on inspections, that maybe gave up in the field landing.  It was a text book glide approach too – really felt like it was coming out right, so I was most surprised when things went wonky.

The Swiss wing, looking too good to strip...but strip it we did.

The intake hoses connecting to the spider had migrated, thus the whole engine was running so lean it couldn’t go on.  No warnings at all though, no rough running, funny noises, nothing concerning on the instrument panel.  Anyway the ground loop and subsequent damage (fuselage frame took the shock load so there was welding to be done) made it an insurance write-off.  They paid out, I bought the Jodel and with the change () bought back the Champ from the insurance company (engine not shock loaded and newly overhauled…) and made the decision she would fly again.  Not a very wise decision financially of course, but I like to think of it as ensuring the Aeronca heritage is maintained (even though thousands exist and she is hardly rare).

We'll just put the engine back on then......with care and.....attention...

...and we have an engine.

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Flying once again!

Great to see so much going on elsewhere with the ladies: you surely started something, didn’t you?!

‘Wish I was flying, aren’t we?
nic

(Nic Orchard)

Nicole Mott is a student at Western Michigan University and based at 61D, Plainwell Municipal Airport, Plainwell, Michigan.

Nicole getting her tailwheel endorsement in an Aeronca, Champ

My name is Nicole Mott and I’m from Kalamazoo, MI where I received my private pilots license in the summer of 2009 in a C150. I currently attend Western Michigan University majoring in Aviation Flight Science with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. Just this past summer I got my tailwheel endorsement in a Champ and had the time of my life! For those who don’t fly they have no idea what they are missing. Rain or shine…it’s always a great day to fly (minus those silly lightening bolts)!

Kim Ewing is based at Gwinnett County Airport (KLZU) Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Kim flying the Champ

I began flying in 2006, right after I graduated from high school. My aunt and uncle own and operate Bermuda High Soaring School in Lancaster, South Carolina and I learned how to fly in gliders with my uncle as my CFIG. After that, I was definitely “bitten by the bug”. At the time, I was attending college in SC, but I transferred to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University down in Florida to pursue flying as a career!

7GCA

In the summer of 2008, my aunt and uncle purchased a 1965 Aeronca Champ (7GCA). Its 150 hp and a blast to fly. I earned my taildragger endorsement and have been in love with that little airplane ever since, flying it every chance I get. I am a CFI and MEI and a commercial pilot w/ single engine land, multi engine land, single engine sea and instrument airplane ratings.

150 hp 1965 Champ, forerunner to the Citabria

I also have my private in gliders, and hope to earn my CFIG soon. My eventual goal is to fly the big jets for the airlines, but my roots will ALWAYS be in “real” flying, tailwheel flying!!

My fiance (also a pilot; he's a first officer for Alpha Flying and owns a Cessna 210) and I in front of one of the Geico Skytypers airplanes.

My fiance occasionally does photo flights in the 210 and if my schedule permits I am lucky enough to tag along and grab some photos of my own! This shoot was in November 2010 down at Homestead ARB in Florida with the Geico Skytypers and the Blue Angels!! Definitely an amazing opportunity to be there for that!

I just can’t say enough how happy I was to find your site!! Please include me on it, I can’t wait to meet more like minded lady pilots!! Also, I flew the 2010 Air Race Classic representing Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and am dying to do it again in my Champ if at all possible!! Now if I could just find a partner…..!!

Happy news from Susan Theodorelos! She & her husband, Andy, bought part interest in a Citabria that belongs to a friend of theirs, also based at their Moraine, Ohio airport. If you were at the Lady Taildraggers fly-in last year you might remember seeing this pretty blue Citabria….

“I now have something to fly that I don’t need Andy to start — that “might” keep up with the RANS — and that I can jump in and come visit without having a “starter” around!”

Looks like some fun summer flying's ahead for Susan!

“It is WAAAAAY different from the RNF — sooo much heavier on the controls….  but I’m current in it now — and with more time I will learn the “finesse” of it.”

Susan

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Posted March, 2010

Susan's Waco Avatar

Susan Theodorelos flies a 1930 Waco RNF out of I73 (Moraine Airpark) Dayton, Ohio.

1930 Waco

In the six or so years I have been flying I’ve done a LOT — so much so that I wrote a little book about it — but that’s for another time!  I have the absolute privilege of owning and flying two 1930 Waco RNF biplanes (well … one is a 75% complete project).

I started flying in 2003, flew the Champ at first — solo’d it at 13 hours, but put my flying on hold due to the death of my mother — got back to flying the following year  but then put things on hold due to the death of my father (yea…it was a bad couple years there).  Got back into flying the following year after purchasing the RNF.

Solo’d the cub in 5 hours and jumped into the RNF, solo’d it after 6 hours and never quit flying after that.  I had 29.7 hours of flying, solo’d 3 aircraft.

One happy pooch (Maggie) & Susan in the Waco

After goofing off for two years, and the threat of my written exam expiring — I finally set things up to take my practical in the RNF!   On 22 October 2009, I got my ticket!  My poor husband was having sympathy anxiety for me — as the winds were gusting to 22 kts on that day.  The ol’ RNF never let me down. It truly is a joy to fly.

The best part is that I took my checkride with Martha Lunken and had an absolute blast!  (I guess you’re not supposed to have that much fun on a checkride, but I did!)  My husband wrote an article about it for Vintage Aviation that came out in February.

Waco One:  1930 Waco RNF NC663Y

Waco Two:  1930 Waco RNF NC863V

Susan Theodorelos wrote up a fun little story about her Saturday aviation adventures. Thanks for sharing with us Susan. Sure was fun finally bumping into you and ALL your friends!  Judy

Got up yesterday morning…. met Brad down at the airport and hopped in the Grumman (yeah… I know…) and flew up to Urbana for breakfast to meet Daun and Kathy (visiting from Canada, eh?) who had already flown up in the Champ.

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Gorgeous day to fly… amazing… with a radio you can fly over places I normally don’t get to go with the Waco RNF….

National Museum of the United States Air Force (Old Patterson Field)

About 10 miles out of Urbana I get a text message.. my dear friend Judy and her husband Boyd are there as well in their Champ!

(L-R) Judy Birchler, Kathy Boyko, Susan Theodorelos

We settle in for a nice breakfast and look up to see a beautiful 170 taxi in… hmmm… looks really familiar! Seems great minds think alike as George Wilford and his son Brian had the same idea… $100.00 pancakes!

Had a nice flight home… zipping past the Champ … and then decided to try and finish the annual on the RNF. The weather was cooperating… we pulled the old girl out to warm up the engine before the compression check…

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Ready for the first start of the season….

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Ahhhh…. the smell of mineral oil in the afternoon! Compression went swimmingly with all cylinders above 74! Me likey! We had to fix the fuel shut off — it had been leaking…. got that accomplished. The sun was starting to sink as we finished buttoning her back up …. I just couldn’t stand it… so I jumped in, Andy propped her and we were off…

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Curing my altitude deprivation sickness….

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Complete with escorts Andy and Brad in the Champ and Kathy and Daun in the 172.

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Gorgeous night to fly….

It is amazing how 20 minutes in your plane can put the world back into perspective…. but with the sun just about to dip below the horizon… it was time to land…

Getting the last little bit of sun before landing...

It was a GREAT day  As the rain, sleet and thunderstorms move in this morning… I might just survive until the next warm, sunny day!

Susan Theodorelos

WacoRNF

Adina Premo is based at Griffiss International Airport (KRME), Rome, New York.

I own a 1946 Aeronca Champ (my favorite) and a Starduster Too Bi-plane. I work as a flight instructor in upstate NY. My love for airplanes started at a very young age – both my father and late grandfather are pilots. Flying is as important as the air I breath.

I am so excited to learn more about your group of women taildraggers!

Dianne Wieman from Texas writes;

“Judy, other than being one of the out of job statistics, my Champ and I are doing great! We do not fly very far lately (even gas costs money!) although we have visited the glider field and took several ladies for special rides.”

Dianne’s Champ N84427

“I signed off Laura for her private pilots certificate and she made it!  The other young lady is a student pilot and was having some difficulty with her crosswind landings, we flew some in her trainer to help her before we went for the ride in the Champ!  I am doing some glider instructing and working on finding a job!  My CAP cadets are about to finsh their model rocket program by shooting their last “BIG” rocket for completion!”

Later,

Dianne

Champ TDA

Link to Dianne Wieman’s January 2010 Pilot Profile