Hang gliding alongside a Piper Cub
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 8:05 pmBack in the early 1980s, I had a friend who hangered his ancient Piper Cub one summer at the Independence airport in Owens Valley. I saw him one day, and noticed the old Cub was a true tandem, with the passenger and pilot in line inside a narrow cockpit. Low drag!
"What kind of glide do you get?" I asked.
"Oh, about 10 to one," he said.
"We should meet in the air over Mazourka Peak," I said. "There's great lift there. You can turn your engine off. We'll soar together. You can land on the mud flat at the south end if you have any problems and I'll come get you."
So I dropped my motorcycle off at the mud flats and drove my old International Scout to Mazourka Launch and took off. Sure enough, as I was cruising along at 10,000 feet, here comes the Cub. My friend killed the engine and I pulled alongside in my 190 Moyes Meteor. We were perfectly matched in glide! It blew my mind. After 40 minutes or so, he left. I don't know if he had a starter of if he dove to start it, but he disappeared.
Don Partridge and I had soared around the Whites in a Cessna 150 side-by-side, sometimes encountering 1200 fpm lift, but my friend, alone and light in the old Cub, had a much better l/d.
I always figured, when I got old, I could get one of those old Cubs and play over all the thermal generators on the Sierra and Inyo/Whites that I knew so well.
For some reason, or maybe just pure coincidence, the number 41 has often played a part in my luck.
Now as soon as I joined the EAA for 40 bucks, this happened. Wish me luck!
(Gee, I wonder if anybody else belongs to the EAA. If it's just me, I'll win it for sure!)
http://www.eaavideo.org/detail/videos/most-recent_/video/5759972287001/win-a-piper-j3-cub-in-the-2018-eaa-sweepstakes?autoStart=true
"What kind of glide do you get?" I asked.
"Oh, about 10 to one," he said.
"We should meet in the air over Mazourka Peak," I said. "There's great lift there. You can turn your engine off. We'll soar together. You can land on the mud flat at the south end if you have any problems and I'll come get you."
So I dropped my motorcycle off at the mud flats and drove my old International Scout to Mazourka Launch and took off. Sure enough, as I was cruising along at 10,000 feet, here comes the Cub. My friend killed the engine and I pulled alongside in my 190 Moyes Meteor. We were perfectly matched in glide! It blew my mind. After 40 minutes or so, he left. I don't know if he had a starter of if he dove to start it, but he disappeared.
Don Partridge and I had soared around the Whites in a Cessna 150 side-by-side, sometimes encountering 1200 fpm lift, but my friend, alone and light in the old Cub, had a much better l/d.
I always figured, when I got old, I could get one of those old Cubs and play over all the thermal generators on the Sierra and Inyo/Whites that I knew so well.
For some reason, or maybe just pure coincidence, the number 41 has often played a part in my luck.
Now as soon as I joined the EAA for 40 bucks, this happened. Wish me luck!
(Gee, I wonder if anybody else belongs to the EAA. If it's just me, I'll win it for sure!)
http://www.eaavideo.org/detail/videos/most-recent_/video/5759972287001/win-a-piper-j3-cub-in-the-2018-eaa-sweepstakes?autoStart=true
I'd love to win it myself, but I'd have to sell it in order to afford lessons. 
