Very cool. Kind of skimmed that Ridge pretty close. I hadn't read the title but I lived in the Bay area for a long time. As he flew over I thought to myself that could be Mount Hamilton. But then thought well it could be a lot of places. Then I saw the title. Nail bed
I think tis would make an awesome electric airplane. Small, light, very clean with the gear up. Imagine sleek you could make that nose. It’s not really a xcountry airplane, more of a fun sport fun machine, so if you could have 1.5 hrs it would be practical. I think that is doable with current battery tech. It would be quite expensive, but people are spending $200k on a sonex jet that only has similar duration. It doesn’t have to make sense, it only has to be fun.
My Dad always talks about flying his Mite up the central valley when he was younger, that was back in the 50s. So his plane must have been almost new or slightly used. Looks like a blast.
Waaw... 80-90 knots IAS with a 65 HP engine. That is what you call aerodynamic efficiency .... Albert Mooney in the US, and Jean Delemontez (Jodel aircraft) in Europe are to be considered as real founding fathers in this area of GA, although not to the same extent (GA was and is much smaller in Europe).
Last Mite I saw was at a local airport (long gone) about Winter 1960 or so. The pilot had some kind of self starter on it and my late father and I stood at the fence near the control tower watching him try and get it started. He never did while we were there. Pretty airplane- yellow and black paint job.
you are watching an airplane powered by 65 hp Lycoming not continental..note the plug wires and plug next to each other all on top of cylinder,.this is a rare and obscure motor.
There is one rare version of the Continental 65 that has an accessory case and starter, a few of the last Mites had them. However, hand propping is no burden, make the plane much lighter and less complex. Sadly, these days hand propping is regarded as either arcane or dangerous. I far prefer to have the tail tied down when I prop a plane alone... but craig and other pilots have got a system that seems to work. At the gas dock.. you are going to be putting on a show.. and this is not a bird that blends into the back ground because it is rare,and always has been.
because the C-65, 75, and 85 all share the same case, it is probably possible to build up an electric start 65... although the crankshaft maybe different for the electric start version...
I would like to fly with this sweet aircraft. but this is not possible if you're living in a little country as mine.. unfortunately. how many aircrafts this type still active flying in the usa?
Amazing...the number of pilots who don't know the rule of hand-starts, which is NEVER curl the fingertips around the blade edge. If she backfires, bye-bye fingertips. Flat palms against the blade surface...and from the FRONT!
My grandpa (whom I never met) flew a Mite a long time ago, I always wondered what he saw when he was flying. Now I know why he liked this type aircraft.
As a Mite owner for over 30 hrs, this question has come up. I was told buy an examiner that if I did my BFR in a Mite that all I would be signed off would be in the Mite. Take off and fly around the airport and demonstrate that I could take off and land safely.
