I never thought I'd have to write this, but after a great 5½ years it looks like I'm going to have to sell my Hatz. Short version is I had a heart attack last Sunday, clear out of the blue with no risk factors. Passed out and stopped breathing, and only because of my wife's quick thinking and rescue breaths am I here to type this today.
So my Basicmed is now invalid and I don't think I want to jump through the hoops for the required one time special issuance medical, even if I could get it (and a denial takes SP off the table), so any future flying will have to be LSA at most. I know MOSAIC will likely change things, in 6 months or a year or two years and make the Hatz (1600# gross) LSA compliant, but I don't want to roll the dice and wait that long.
But it's not all bad, I tend to keep airplanes for about 5 years anyway and I've accomplished most all of the things I wanted to do with the Hatz, so I'm OK with it... and I've found myself glancing at the biplanes for sale more often lately. There was that V-Star that was offered recently... I don't need to move fast, don't want to lose my hangar space. I'm not going to be flying for a month or two at any rate, until I (and my doctors) are comfortable that there won't be a recurrence, but I'm hoping not to miss the entire summer.
So I'm just floating the idea that there will be a Hatz available soon, not a show plane but not bad either, and I'm looking for... what? Experimental a must, I do my own maintenance. It could be one or two seat, all the family has gotten rides (except for little Lynda who's still too young), almost certainly a biplane (though all my friends are flying bushplanes now, or an amphib might be fun but I won't find one in my price range, not to mention the insurance). Has to be open cockpit, though a removable canopy for the winter might be nice. My Starduster was LSA legal, supposedly, according to the numbers in the paperwork and the line on the ASI, not that I quite believed it but the FAA (and the insurance company) never questioned it after my crash. Pity nobody's made a LSA compliant Pitts S1C... but maybe in 5 years after MOSAIC goes through that could be my next plane...
A V-Star would definitely do, or maybe a Skyote or Smith or Baby Great Lakes (not sure if all of these are LSA?), or Hatz Bantam (which would let me keep hanging with my bushplane friends, at least some of the time), or ????? Going farther afield, the Murphy Renegade or Sherwood Ranger could be an option. At 5'7" I can fit in most anything. Bonus points for somebody who wants to trade for a Hatz.
Whatever I get has to be capable of at least gentleman's aerobatics, and if single seat, has to be capable of real aerobatics (inverted systems not required). If I can't hang with my buddies on the short rough fields I want to be able to thrash it around. Budget is no more than $25-30K depending what the Hatz is worth in today's market. Don't have time or space for a project but a plane needing minor work is OK, as long as I can get it home and do anything required on its wheels in the hangar, so the guy behind me can move it to get out. And it needs to be reasonably close to Connecticut, actual distance depending on whether it's flyable as is.
So my Basicmed is now invalid and I don't think I want to jump through the hoops for the required one time special issuance medical, even if I could get it (and a denial takes SP off the table), so any future flying will have to be LSA at most. I know MOSAIC will likely change things, in 6 months or a year or two years and make the Hatz (1600# gross) LSA compliant, but I don't want to roll the dice and wait that long.
But it's not all bad, I tend to keep airplanes for about 5 years anyway and I've accomplished most all of the things I wanted to do with the Hatz, so I'm OK with it... and I've found myself glancing at the biplanes for sale more often lately. There was that V-Star that was offered recently... I don't need to move fast, don't want to lose my hangar space. I'm not going to be flying for a month or two at any rate, until I (and my doctors) are comfortable that there won't be a recurrence, but I'm hoping not to miss the entire summer.
So I'm just floating the idea that there will be a Hatz available soon, not a show plane but not bad either, and I'm looking for... what? Experimental a must, I do my own maintenance. It could be one or two seat, all the family has gotten rides (except for little Lynda who's still too young), almost certainly a biplane (though all my friends are flying bushplanes now, or an amphib might be fun but I won't find one in my price range, not to mention the insurance). Has to be open cockpit, though a removable canopy for the winter might be nice. My Starduster was LSA legal, supposedly, according to the numbers in the paperwork and the line on the ASI, not that I quite believed it but the FAA (and the insurance company) never questioned it after my crash. Pity nobody's made a LSA compliant Pitts S1C... but maybe in 5 years after MOSAIC goes through that could be my next plane...
A V-Star would definitely do, or maybe a Skyote or Smith or Baby Great Lakes (not sure if all of these are LSA?), or Hatz Bantam (which would let me keep hanging with my bushplane friends, at least some of the time), or ????? Going farther afield, the Murphy Renegade or Sherwood Ranger could be an option. At 5'7" I can fit in most anything. Bonus points for somebody who wants to trade for a Hatz.
Whatever I get has to be capable of at least gentleman's aerobatics, and if single seat, has to be capable of real aerobatics (inverted systems not required). If I can't hang with my buddies on the short rough fields I want to be able to thrash it around. Budget is no more than $25-30K depending what the Hatz is worth in today's market. Don't have time or space for a project but a plane needing minor work is OK, as long as I can get it home and do anything required on its wheels in the hangar, so the guy behind me can move it to get out. And it needs to be reasonably close to Connecticut, actual distance depending on whether it's flyable as is.
