Flying Stories, E-mail & Letters; Corben Baby Ace...
The aircraft pictured is not related to these stories.
(Edited) A good many years ago I was part owner of a full scale Corben Baby Ace. It was Cub like in appearance but completely different handling. The stick was too heavy for such a small airplane and it had adverse yaw worst than any airplane I’ve ever flown. It had no pitch trim and would drop a wing abruptly at the stall. All that being said, it was a blast to fly. I sat shoulders above the cockpit rim and had to use goggles as the little windscreen wasn’t too effective. I flew with a helmet that would bump on the wing in rough air. Landings were a snap with no problems on rollout. Wheel landings were a no no, as the propeller clearance with the tail a little high was nil. I had many fun hours in it until a tornado blew it over.
Note From The Baby Ace Man: My experiences were nothing at all like the pilot/owner above. I suspect that his airplane was not rigged correctly and that it was possibly out of balance. I seem to recall easily making wheel landings and three-point full stall landings in my two Baby Ace airplanes. I read recently that it is important to balance airplanes wing to wing by finding and countering the heaviest tip. Helps prevent wing drop off in stalls. Guy Foster
Note From The Baby Ace Man: My experiences were nothing at all like the pilot/owner above. I suspect that his airplane was not rigged correctly and that it was possibly out of balance. I seem to recall easily making wheel landings and three-point full stall landings in my two Baby Ace airplanes. I read recently that it is important to balance airplanes wing to wing by finding and countering the heaviest tip. Helps prevent wing drop off in stalls. Guy Foster
More Letters:
The aircraft pictured is not related to these stories.
In a message dated 1/26/2011
Hey Guy...really neat stuff. I bet that is a fun plane. How about a C-85 or C-90 in one? That would be a great adventure to take one to Oshkosh! Later, Greg
(Response Edited) Yeah; I still have hopes of owning another Baby Ace someday, but my wife worries about the odds after all the years and the airplanes that I flew. She seems to remember my three (3) forced landings in the Baby Ace & J-3's (just wait until you do one of those... hope you never have to) and other stories of close calls.
NOT TO OVER WORRY ANYONE; I must say; (some of) the older 1930's and 1940's tube and fabric airplanes are beginning to corrode internally within their tubing. Structural failure is a possibility (see J-3 story below). Once when my gear (on my Baby Ace) snapped in a grass field (after hitting a pothole during a take off) I could see inside the tube that broke at how thin the tubing walls had corroded. Someone should devise a non-destructive test to check the wall thickness of airframe tubing on these older airplanes. Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
Hey Guy...really neat stuff. I bet that is a fun plane. How about a C-85 or C-90 in one? That would be a great adventure to take one to Oshkosh! Later, Greg
(Response Edited) Yeah; I still have hopes of owning another Baby Ace someday, but my wife worries about the odds after all the years and the airplanes that I flew. She seems to remember my three (3) forced landings in the Baby Ace & J-3's (just wait until you do one of those... hope you never have to) and other stories of close calls.
NOT TO OVER WORRY ANYONE; I must say; (some of) the older 1930's and 1940's tube and fabric airplanes are beginning to corrode internally within their tubing. Structural failure is a possibility (see J-3 story below). Once when my gear (on my Baby Ace) snapped in a grass field (after hitting a pothole during a take off) I could see inside the tube that broke at how thin the tubing walls had corroded. Someone should devise a non-destructive test to check the wall thickness of airframe tubing on these older airplanes. Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
Reply: 01/26/2011 (edited); Interesting what you said about the tube frames rusting from within. That again is part of the appeal of the little RV plane in that it is aluminum (a LOT of little pieces of aluminum) and they can be corrosion-proofed as you build. Also, aluminum planes (like my Cessna 150), are pretty easy to inspect for corrosion and cracking. If anything, I may just do some sprucing up of the plane as it's showing its age, but then again, so am I. Later, Greg
Response: (edited): Yeah Greg, I think we all are feeling our age - including our airplanes. The Piper J-3 wing strut Airworthiness Directive stems from the failure of a lift strut on a J-3 Cub from internal corrosion (I have the NTSB report of the fatal J-3 crash that lead to that AD Note.... and that was years ago... think of how advanced corrosion must be by now in the main frame components that cannot be inspected or changed). That Cub in question had its wing fold with two pilots onboard just after take off while at about 300 feet altitude during climb out on a calm day - the airplane was below gross weight (in front of witnesses) with no pilot error or excessive 'G' loading involved whatsoever. That particular AD note made it less feasible to keep a Cub since you either had to replace the struts at huge cost or punch check and put lindseed oil in them every so many years costing $600 a pop (in 1980's dollars). The struts had to be removed to do this test and servicing. The strut fork attach fittings had to be changed as well using new fittings with rolled threads after those too failed causing another AD note - which cost me hundreds of dollars more. On subsequent purchases of Cubs (such as the one you flew in with me which had brand new struts and fork fittings) I always checked the airplanes log books for compliance to avoid duplicating that expense before buying them. I had five cubs over the years and some of them hit me in the pocket book pretty good to bring them up to date. I agree about Cessna's being in a different class as far as aging and inspections go. Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
P.S. Greg and I also discussed IFR ratings and their use in sport flying to possibly punch through clouds and other types of marginal IFR conditions. I told Greg that judgment becomes the key factor and hundreds if not thousands of fatal crashes have resulted from spacial disorientation involving pilots with and without IFR ratings. The Buddy Holly crash is a good example. Regarding relying on good judgment in general while flying. A CFI that I was well acquainted with told me (and some fellow pilots) over lunch at an airport one day in Louisiana to never try to turn back to a runway during take-off (not even at 400 feet altitude). He died doing just that (at the airport that he managed); only a few weeks after that stern lecture (he crashed a 90HP J-3 Cub that I had flown on the very day that I met him there). He had been very emphatic, knew better - but did it anyway. I am not sure what causes wreckless indecision? In his case the airplane belonged to a friend and possibly he was trying to not wreck it, stalled, crashed and died. His son later gave me my first aerobatic lesson in my Citabria 7ECA. Another pilot acquaintance in my town died pulling the wings off his Champ. Another friend died buzzing his mother-in-law's house while still a student pilot, clipping the electric wires, flipping the Cessna 150 he was piloting and killing his wife (who was with him illegally) right in front of both his in-laws (her parents). They were both still alive in the wreckage for an hour while the parents stood there helpless; hovering over them - while awaiting the rescue crew that got there too late. I'll never forget watching the wreckage hauled into the airport and stored behind the hangar in Tallulah. Another of my very best acquaintances died in his crop duster after nearly 18,000 hours of experience (I never learned the circumstances of his crash but was shocked to hear of his death). He was a supreme pilot (sort of a hero to me) that I watched dust crops for many and many an hour... seems like it must have been a structural failure or an extreme engine failure at the worst possible moment that killed him; as this guy could handle anything in flight). Morbid stories for sure, but they keep me forever mindful of flight safety since they are so personal. I hope you never observed me doing anything foolish in the J-3 Cub Greg... LOL. If I did - I doubt you would have flown with me more than one time. More later - Guy (Note: Back in the 1980's Greg helped me produce a VHS tape on owning and flying a Piper J-3 Cub which was distributed worldwide after advertising in model aircraft magazines and Trade-A-Plane.]
More coming soon!
If anyone knows the status of this airplane or who ended up with this airplane, or - if you are the Owner, Builder, Pilot or Photographer involving this airplane, please e-mail me with your story and I will try my best to publish it on these pages.
Copyright notice: If you see an image here that should not be displayed due to prior copyright issues, please feel free to contact us about it. We will take necessary action if required.
Response: (edited): Yeah Greg, I think we all are feeling our age - including our airplanes. The Piper J-3 wing strut Airworthiness Directive stems from the failure of a lift strut on a J-3 Cub from internal corrosion (I have the NTSB report of the fatal J-3 crash that lead to that AD Note.... and that was years ago... think of how advanced corrosion must be by now in the main frame components that cannot be inspected or changed). That Cub in question had its wing fold with two pilots onboard just after take off while at about 300 feet altitude during climb out on a calm day - the airplane was below gross weight (in front of witnesses) with no pilot error or excessive 'G' loading involved whatsoever. That particular AD note made it less feasible to keep a Cub since you either had to replace the struts at huge cost or punch check and put lindseed oil in them every so many years costing $600 a pop (in 1980's dollars). The struts had to be removed to do this test and servicing. The strut fork attach fittings had to be changed as well using new fittings with rolled threads after those too failed causing another AD note - which cost me hundreds of dollars more. On subsequent purchases of Cubs (such as the one you flew in with me which had brand new struts and fork fittings) I always checked the airplanes log books for compliance to avoid duplicating that expense before buying them. I had five cubs over the years and some of them hit me in the pocket book pretty good to bring them up to date. I agree about Cessna's being in a different class as far as aging and inspections go. Guy Foster [The Baby Ace Man]
P.S. Greg and I also discussed IFR ratings and their use in sport flying to possibly punch through clouds and other types of marginal IFR conditions. I told Greg that judgment becomes the key factor and hundreds if not thousands of fatal crashes have resulted from spacial disorientation involving pilots with and without IFR ratings. The Buddy Holly crash is a good example. Regarding relying on good judgment in general while flying. A CFI that I was well acquainted with told me (and some fellow pilots) over lunch at an airport one day in Louisiana to never try to turn back to a runway during take-off (not even at 400 feet altitude). He died doing just that (at the airport that he managed); only a few weeks after that stern lecture (he crashed a 90HP J-3 Cub that I had flown on the very day that I met him there). He had been very emphatic, knew better - but did it anyway. I am not sure what causes wreckless indecision? In his case the airplane belonged to a friend and possibly he was trying to not wreck it, stalled, crashed and died. His son later gave me my first aerobatic lesson in my Citabria 7ECA. Another pilot acquaintance in my town died pulling the wings off his Champ. Another friend died buzzing his mother-in-law's house while still a student pilot, clipping the electric wires, flipping the Cessna 150 he was piloting and killing his wife (who was with him illegally) right in front of both his in-laws (her parents). They were both still alive in the wreckage for an hour while the parents stood there helpless; hovering over them - while awaiting the rescue crew that got there too late. I'll never forget watching the wreckage hauled into the airport and stored behind the hangar in Tallulah. Another of my very best acquaintances died in his crop duster after nearly 18,000 hours of experience (I never learned the circumstances of his crash but was shocked to hear of his death). He was a supreme pilot (sort of a hero to me) that I watched dust crops for many and many an hour... seems like it must have been a structural failure or an extreme engine failure at the worst possible moment that killed him; as this guy could handle anything in flight). Morbid stories for sure, but they keep me forever mindful of flight safety since they are so personal. I hope you never observed me doing anything foolish in the J-3 Cub Greg... LOL. If I did - I doubt you would have flown with me more than one time. More later - Guy (Note: Back in the 1980's Greg helped me produce a VHS tape on owning and flying a Piper J-3 Cub which was distributed worldwide after advertising in model aircraft magazines and Trade-A-Plane.]
More coming soon!
If anyone knows the status of this airplane or who ended up with this airplane, or - if you are the Owner, Builder, Pilot or Photographer involving this airplane, please e-mail me with your story and I will try my best to publish it on these pages.
Copyright notice: If you see an image here that should not be displayed due to prior copyright issues, please feel free to contact us about it. We will take necessary action if required.