Luscombes and Champs with a New Lease on Life

Pilots of the world, meet American know-how building American airframes powered by American powerplants. This month, we offer not one but two such airplanes, the Luscombe Silvaire LSA-8, and the American Champion Aircraft Champ. These flying machines offer not only homeland availability but homeland pricing as well. Neither is subject to constant price increases from a soaring euro, and when Europe finalizes acceptance of ASTM standards (see "Europe, EASA, and Light-Sport Aircraft" page 36), these planes may be a compelling purchase for Europeans. An LSA-8 or Champ might seem downright cheap in Europe (approximately 55,000 euros plus shipping). Globalization works in both directions! Two-thirds of the approximately 1,270 airplanes in today's current light-sport aircraft (LSA) fleet (as of April 2008) were built overseas, but recent entries by American companies joining the LSA parade could change those numbers. At times of rising LSA import prices and skyrocketing fuel costs, these are two affordable aircraft Americans ought to consider. The Luscombe Silvaire Company hails from California, at historic Flabob Airport. American Champion, based in Rochester, Wisconsin is a longstanding company that's only a short flight from Oshkosh. LUSCOMBE NOSTALGIA Though I've had the privilege of flying more airplanes than most pilots, I'd always heard about but never flown a Luscombe. "Marvelous handling" is what some knowing pilots would say. "Superb performance," exclaimed others. I didn't experience one for myself until I went flying with Luscombe Silvaire Company President John Dearden. Why did I wait so long? What a terrific little airplane! Okay, it's a taildragger, and I know many pilots lack taildragger experience. My first 35 flying hours were in a Citabria, a relative of the Champ, which hints at how long I've been flying, but if you have only tricycle-gear experience, you may look at LSA-8's high deck angle and wonder when your next ground loop might happen. All I can say is, looks can be deceiving and rumors are often wrong. With 60 years of history and many thousands of aircraft produced, Luscombe ranks as one of history's most successful airframe producers. The maiden flight of Donald Luscombe's original design was on December 17, 1937. The first variation to achieve success was the Silvaire (a name retained by today's manufacturer). More than 6,000 units were delivered. Most American pilots know the Model 8 series, 8A through 8F, of which another 1,200 units were delivered. Add in about 200 four-seat Luscombe Sedans and two-seat tricycle-gear versions and you'll tally at least 8,000 Luscombe aircraft. Luscombe Aircraft once built the predecessor to the LSA-8 at the rate of 23 per day-yes, per day. In 1948, the company produced 2,700 airplanes in one calendar year. That high production rate may have been relatively short-lived, but it proves that the tooling that Luscombe Silvaire Company owns today holds the potential to build a lot of airplanes. Dearden says his company has more than a thousand machining dies, and on my visit to his California shop, I felt like I saw most of them. John said that the former factory had production hours down to about 400 per aircraft when it was pumping out significant numbers. Today's Luscombe LSA-8 is built new to meet ASTM standards, but it was originally designed and is still constructed to CAR 4a standard airworthiness requirements. "Our Light Sport Luscombe using the 100-hp Continental O-200A powerplant matches or exceeds the performance of the original Luscombe top-of-theline 8F in every way," said Dearden. While many imported LSA are furiously building the infrastructure to support their designs, the LSA- 8 boasts time-proven low-maintenance requirements. Thousands of aircraft mechanics are familiar with Luscombes, and parts are readily available from the American factory and other suppliers. With thousands of the originals still flying after 50 years or more of service, Donald Luscombe's durable design has an enviable track record. FLY MY SHINY AIRPLANE Finally, after all these years, it was my time to go aloft in a plane from the much-storied Luscombe 8 series, specifically the new iteration of it under sport pilot rules. I was ready. Despite my anticipation, getting in the aircraft proved a little more challenging than with some LSA (although I'm admittedly not as flexible as I was earlier in my career). The technique involves putting your hand on the far seat and your foot on the foot peg. While leaning well inside the cockpit you then lift your other leg. After getting one leg inside, I found the door opening to be fairly tight; I had to use my hand to pull in my other leg. Once inside, you realize this is an earlier design. The Luscombe LSA-8 has a 39-inch-wide cabin, which is half an inch narrower than a Cessna 172 and measurably narrower than most modern special LSA (S-LSA). Nonetheless, it seemed roomier than the number suggests, thanks partly to the fact that neither Dearden nor I are large men. Perhaps the simple interior also made the space feel larger. Fancy interiors are fine, but they take up space (and add weight). The LSA-8's luggage compartment is large enough for big bags and has a 75-pound capacity. However, the allaluminum LSA-8 weighs between 830 and 890 pounds empty, which means you have to watch weight carefully. With two larger occupants, you may have to forgo luggage unless you're willing to launch with less than the full 30 gallons of fuel. I absolutely loved that you can open the windows at any time. When you do, a lovely breeze fills the cabin and your visibility increases. You also get to hear that Continental O-200 in operation. A Rotax sounds quite different. The aircraft's window-latching mechanism is simple yet secure, so you feel comfortable opening a window in flight. An opened-window Luscombe might work as a photo platform, and the great controls of the LSA-8 lend themselves to accurate flying. John noted that if you open both windows you get some buffeting, so if you try one or the other, you may find one superior. On a warm summer day, flying with your arm hanging out the window is just plain fun. The flap T-handle located above the center of the panel has a somewhat unusual mode of operation, though I had it figured out by the end of our flight. You twist the spring-loaded handle to the right to release the detent and can then reposition from 0 to 15 to 30 degrees. You have to remember which way to rotate, and you'll find the twisting motion easier, John explained, if you relieve the pressure on the flap surfaces by first slowing the LSA-8. The design allows deploying flaps at 90 mph, but slowing first will make the surfaces much easier to set. On the plus side of the handle location, the flap lever is readily available to either pilot/passenger, befitting its dual controls. The trim control is a forward-facing knob with crank-handle operation and is less intuitive than the flap lever. Though clearly labeled-you turn the knob clockwise, when viewed from the front, to lower the nose-you'll have to learn the direction to go without lowering your vision to read the placard and mechanical position indicator down by the knob between the seats. The LSA-8's trim control gives results, but it has so little resistance in its movement that you get no feedback. However, except for special investigations such as slow flight or trying to max out cruise, I didn't use trim much. The LSA-8's pitch control is so cooperative that it simply isn't that big a deal how the trim control operates. You can largely ignore it if you wish. Another pilot observed that the relatively small trim surface of N104LS, which appeared to be the original size, had surface area added. He also noted that after one landing the surface was deployed to a good percentage of its range. Indeed, the trim surface appears to be relatively small compared to trim surfaces on more recently designed aircraft. Luscombe has a built-in theft deterrent via the fuel shut-off knob, which has a removable handle that would make it much harder for a thief to supply fuel to the engine. EASYGOING TAILDRAGGER Too many pilots look at a taildragger and conclude they don't have the experience (or the patience to acquire the experience) to manage one. Even with a lot of taildragger experience, I was uncertain how the LSA-8 would behave on landing approach and touchdown. The fairly steep deck angle led me to conclude I would need to use the rudder pedals well to avoid the dreaded group loop. Essentially, that impression was wrong. While you can never ignore rudder pedals when landing a taildragger, the LSA-8 proved to be quite stable to land. My three landings went well. The effort was easier, with better results than expected. The first two landings were made without any flaps, and both went exceeding well. I did not experience the need to dance on the rudder pedals-that recommended series of tiny but steady movements to assure the tail stays behind the nose. On my third landing using the full 30 degrees of flaps, I had a much shorter flare window. I overflared and overcontrolled a bit, so my touchdown was less smooth than I preferred it. Regardless, the LSA-8 set us down easily. Once aloft, I was keen to explore the much-admired handling of the Luscombe. What I discovered with my Dutch roll exercise-trying to keep the ball centered while rotating on the longitudinal axis-was that you lead with the ailerons and follow with the rudders. This is the opposite of some LSA born out of the ultralight movement, in which you often lead with rudders. But most general aviation pilots will easily understand the action. Contrary to some highly evolved general aviation designs, you must use the rudders, as the LSA-8 exhibits significant adverse yaw without using the foot pedals. I also explored the LSA-8's behavior by operating the rudder pedals without the ailerons. Except for some initial adverse yaw, the LSA-8 responded quite well to rudder-only input. Interestingly, the LSA-8 comes around to coordinated flight better with rudderonly input than with aileron-only input. What this likely illustrates is that responsive and effective ailerons such as on the Luscombe LSA-8 cause the adverse yaw. No matter. The effect diminishes quickly and is easily controlled. I performed 45- to 60-degree bank steep turns with 2550 rpm from the 100-hp Continental O-200 fourbanger, and the LSA-8 held altitude without effort. John observed that at 2,500 feet mean sea level in Florida on a warm day, we flew with the airplane slightly lean. He suggested 2600 rpm, which is near full power. When flying behind the Continental engine and not a Rotax, I had to be reminded to pull on some carburetor heat when reducing power significantly- for example, when checking power-off stalls or normal descent sink rate. Because of a panel ledge just above the knob, it was a minor challenge to actuate the carburetor heat, specifically in pressing the detent button to pull the knob out. On a downwind run, we saw 111 knots. The upwind run showed about 98 knots, for an average max cruise speed of 105 knots or 120 mph. Climb rate was about 1,000 fpm off the runway near sea level. It sustained later at 600 to 800 fpm at about 75 mph indicated. My power-off descent with engine idling (which brings increased disk drag) showed about 800 fpm. For comparison, the slowest descending LSA can achieve 400 fpm or less; a few descend faster. WELL-BEHAVED LSA The pleasure I experienced flying the LSA-8 with John revolved around the design's good manners. I figured performance would be good, and I'd heard handling was responsive. No one had mentioned how easy the Luscombe might be to fly. Indeed, the LSA-8 is quite accommodating to those who are new to the design. I explored the stall and stability to satisfying results. Power-on and power-off stalls, plus accelerated or banking stalls in both directions, showed no tendency to stall break. Going into a right accelerated stall, I noticed only a little wiggle in the rudder. To the left, the LSA-8 showed no such tendency. At most the power-on stall showed a bit of wandering at the point of highdeck- angle incipient stall. Luscombe officials report a full flap stall of only 44 mph or 38 knots. Numbers in this low range are hard to verify with accuracy, but it was easy to discern that our forward movement was modest. When I checked longitudinal stability by trimming to level and then disturbing the stick forward, the LSA- 8 approached redline (of 145 mph) but did not exceed redline without any adjustment or pressure on the controls. The plane stabilized after two-plus oscillations, which is a fairly quick recovery. I got essentially the same results when I pulled the stick aft and released. Power response was proper and expected. That is, reducing power resulted in a dropping nose (that might exceed redline without pilot input or trim adjustment). Conversely, adding power raised the nose, but you should pay attention to trim if you wish to release the stick. REFLECTIONS "The Luscombe Silvaire Aircraft Company (LSAC) is dedicated to manufacturing new production Luscombe aircraft and to serving the existing fleet," said John-but LSAC is only one of two operations serving the Luscombe community. Team Luscombe LLC, an affiliate of Luscombe Silvaire Aircraft, holds the type certificate (ATC-694) for all Luscombes ever made. Based in Chandler, Arizona, it has built a reputation for its quality restoration and rebuilding work on Luscombe aircraft. More information on the company is available at www.LuscombeHeritage.org. Dividing the tasks, Team Luscombe holds FAA parts manufacturing approval for many new manufactured parts and can supply serviceable parts from an inventory built up during more than a decade of service, restoration, and parts sales. Fortunately, though, new original equipment manufacturer parts will also be available from the Luscombe Silvaire Company itself, manufactured using the original Luscombe factory tooling and techniques. I'd come to fly the LSA-8 expecting good performance and snappy handling at the cost of stability, but what I found was a docile, pleasantto- fly airplane that also happened to handle nicely and perform well. The LSA-8 offers quite a nice introduction to taildragger flying, though proper training is recommended. John said the Luscombe had a reputation for being hard to land or a handful to fly. When the Luscombe was first certificated in the 1930s, many pilots were flying biplanes that stalled at 20 mph, he said, and the livelier Luscombe monoplane seemed like a high-performance airplane. My experience certainly did not match the outdated reputation. The LSA-8 is very much a new airplane, with the shiny, polished-aluminum look of aviation's so-called golden age. And it has an S-LSA airworthiness certificate to prove it. With a price tag below $90,000, it may answer a need for some. I was charmed in many ways by the Luscombe-its gleaming, polished- aluminum surface, the great handling, zippy yet economical performance, surprisingly easy landings, and good old American hardware. Factor in a reasonable price and service from people in the United States, and maybe you could be charmed, too.