Dean wrote:
Patchen Explorer ... I managed to get a flip in it in 1989
Yes Dean when you mentioned it I thought well that must have been when I did that trip! It was epic! She always had a slight offset spinner, and when we landed in Beaufort to re-fuel, on the way to CT, we saw a huge crack had opened up at the base of the prop spinner. The spinner was removed and she's flown without one ever since. No effect, but does nothing for the oddball looks! I would always smile at airshows as when the Museum aircraft were parked together, like the amazing EP9 (another very rare bird), Fairchild, "Fieslike Torch" and Chipmunk, people would flock to look at the Patchen because it looked so weird! This would cause some muttering from the other "more classic aircraft" Musum pilots! At the Potch air show, years back, we got a request from a modelling agency for a stunning model to be photographed posing with a Museum aircraft, the one they chose....the Patch! I had to help her climb up near the engine and show her where she could safely put those pretty feet. As a young living in singly, I enjoyed that a lot!
So great to see her alive and well and active at Swartkops! Like I said she is the only one in the world, requires very little maintenance and is attention grabbing. She did go through a re-design of the box structure upfront which supports the nose wheel, as at one stage this showed signs of stress. This did ground her for about a year or so. Apart from that, she runs like a little sewing machine. If lots of max up elevator is used, during take off/ landing rolls and even taxiing, this helps reduce the load on the nose wheel structure a lot. She sat for years gathering dust in a TFDC hanger in the old TFDC Waterkloof days after that initial evaluation and was almost scrapped, before someone had the great idea of donating her to the Museum, where she's lived ever since and been lovingly cared for by the awesome Museum Techo's. Has a 150HP, VP prop Lycoming, good power actually for that little aircraft. Landing is fun, you sit so low, that feels like you are about to start scraping your butt on the runway when she touches down! Throttle, mixture and pitch levers are in the roof, classic float plane style, so SOP, always wear good underarm if flying with pax!