The real J3 sure handles a lot better on the ground than the FS9 version... S-turns are a must, but it's not "tippy" at all at normal speeds.

Now, I know some of you are thinking "that's not a J3- that's an L-4!"
You're right... and wrong.
It's an L-4 that was registered as a J-3 when it passed into civilian hands, because "an L4 registration for a civil aircraft was not available", as it was explained to me. 

It's listed under this N-number as a 1952, but that might be the year it "went civilian". I'll inquire further, later.






Bill had been flying since early this morning, so after a brief chat I went out to the ramp while he took a breather and took a look at the plane.
Not a bad suite of instruments in here... and it has an electric starter.
But no radios.

     



And did I mention? Students sit back here... where you can't see the panel, or much of anything, really.
But I did fine- and scored a double coup: my first J3 takeoffs and landings... and my first grass-runway ops. Sweet!

     



Of course, some hanging around afterwards is always in order... quite busy today, although quite cold. Light winds and a high overcast makes it all easier.
Here's that cub again, having a rest.

     



A C150 lifts off, gear still flexing.






After intently sniffing the crash bar behind my fuel tank for a few minutes (???), the resident cat admired my collection of bumper stickers.

     



The breeze shifted yet again before I left- here's a Skyhawk on short final for 21. The tree on the left is the closest tree to the runway- hardly the nuisance depicted in FS9.

           


This sweet Bird Dog was coming in just as I was leaving.

Nice Cat.   Andover looks like a nice place to spend an afternoon.

Welllll.. when I come that way to collect my lunch (possibly in a 310 ).. THAT'S the airport I'm going to... Looks like great atmosphere.. Can you put in a good word for me with taildragger instructor ?

Neat stuff..

Glad you got to go up, looks like and excellent place to get some nice shots, maybe when it warmer. That L-4/J-3 looks like it doesn't sit still very often. Thanks for taking us with you, Mark

Haven't you been told before about keeping all that catnip in your car? 

flyboy 28 wrote on Jan 27^th, 2008 at 9:43am:


I'm with you on that , James!!

Glad to hear you did a good job, Sean!!  Looks like a fun aircraft to fly!!!

Quote:


Good point     Though I'm sure it can be done... I won't be near enough comfy in it by then; for a 2000X50 runway 

Are there any twins based there ?

Brett_Henderson wrote on Jan 27^th, 2008 at 1:39pm:


One, according to Airnav... and I don't think I saw any there Saturday, out on the grass at least.

But sure, with some forethought it would work for most light twins... I once saw an old Aztec full of people take off from the ORA strip, and it must have landed there...