My First Airplane- Aeronca 7AC Champ

 

champ-at-geneseo

I finally found my first plane.  It took me many months of deliberation.

  • Whats my budget?
  • High or low wing?
  • Fast or slow?
  • Experimental or certified?
  • Stick or yoke?
  • tri gear or taildragger?

I finally narrowed it down to wanting a high wing plane to see below me and wasn’t sure about an experimental that I didn’t build myself.  My sub $30K budget relegated me to something relatively slow and efficient to fly.   I figured the less expensive it is to fly the more I will fly.  I also wanted some off airport capabilities for flying off the beaten path.  Plus taildraggers are cool 🙂

Found a beautiful fully restored Champ but of course it was 2000 miles away.  No problem perfect opportunity for an adventure!  New York to Montana, no problem.

Well, not exactly.  But exactly an adventure to be sure! To make it better I still didn’t have anything but a student certificate yet.  See the journey in later posts.

champ-at-watertown