I've been on the hunt for a simple taildragger for a while, and decided that something in the American Champion line would be a good fit for me. I wanted something that was simple (I have the 'complex' box checked multiple times!), tandem, tailwheel, aerobatic, and decent on grass/dirt strips. The aerobatic requirement eliminated the Cub variants, Huskies, etc, so I was pretty much left with something in the American Champion line.
Another requirement was that I had to be able to legally haul a couple of hundred pounds so I could take my son flying (I'm 6'3" 200ish, and he's 6'5" 240 and still growing!), so that eliminated the lower horsepower Citabrias and Decathlons.
I found a very nice mid 90's Super Decathlon with a gross weight upgrade kit and placed an offer on it through a broker, but I admittedly lowballed it a bit and didn't get the plane. In hindsight I was lucky I didn't get that plane since I hadn't yet discovered the plane I eventually purchased!
Browsing through Trade a Plane I stumbled on a late model Citabria 7GCBC (I now have the decoder ring and can speak "Champion") High Country Explorer. This is a 180hp airplane, with flaps, and a standard (ie not the Decathlon symmetrical) wing, and it had larger 8.50 tires.
I fell in love. The High Country Explorer was the perfect plane for me.
While camping at Oshkosh with the Pirates, I decided to call the number on the ad and see if the plane or owner happened to be at Oshkosh.
The plane wasn't, but the Quinn Anderson, the owner, was about 20 rows away from our camp! We got together a few minutes later, and it turns out Quinn is a BTer and, more importantly, a hell of a nice guy. His 10 year old daughter was with him as well, and clearly Quinn is doing a great job raising her - A great kid!
Sometimes a deal just feels right, and this one did. After talking about the plane for a bit, I made an offer and Quinn said he would sleep on it. He emailed me the next morning saying we had a deal, and we shook on it at the Pirate Party that evening.
Quinn's the kind of guy whose handshake seals a deal, and it was an incredibly straight forward sales process with no surprises at all. He is truly a man of his word, and the plane was even better than depicted.
Now that we had shaken on a deal, we had to figure out the mechanics of the pre-buy and my insurance required training. BT to the rescue again, as my dear friends Steve Guetter and Kjersti Kittelson (who own a great J35 Bonanza) offered their mechanic in Minneapolis for the prebuy. Quinn said "no problem, I'll get the plane down there" and in fact delivered it before we had fully executed the purchase agreement (did I mention he's a stand up guy?!).
Steve and Kjersti also introduced me to Hans Meyer who would do my 10 hours of insurance mandated training, and offered to let me stay at their house for the long weekend (and even gave me a car to drive!).
Once the prebuy was done, I hopped on a commercial flight to MSP on Thursday night then Ubered over to Fleming Field (KSGS) where I met up with Hans and I actually saw the plane for the first time.
Yes, I purchased a plane sight unseen, and had actually never flown this model of Citabria!
It was gorgeous, and everything Quinn had said (and more!).
After a quick brief, we launched and started my training in the fading light of a pretty summer evening.
The next day Hans and I flew the wings off of her, and logged almost 8 hours of dual. As a side benefit I got an amazing aerial tour of MN and Lake Superior (man, did we luck out on the weather!). It also turns out Hans flies an Albatross and is likely the highest time Howard 500 guy on the planet, so I got to visit that hangar and explore for a bit!
Saturday was spent with Steve and Kjersti helping them set up for the Minnesota Sea Plane Association's annual Pig Roast and having fun with airplanes.
On Sunday my time in Minnesota was drawing to a close, but I was able to fly my new plane to the MSPA Pig Roast and enjoy some great food, airplane watching, and camaraderie before I started my journey home.
Sunday and Monday were spent flying home, low and slow. I took the time to explore a number of fun grass strips including Gastons and Trigger Gap (a neat backcountry strip in Arkansas) and never got above 1,000agl. I also had to do a little weather dodging, but XM, Foreflight, etc, make it a lot easier than it used to be.
A third BT connection, Chester Jurkis, helped me with hangar space in Dallas so my pretty new bird can stay that way!
Really fun when a plan comes together, and this one certainly did. Thanks to Quinn, Steve, Kjersti, Hans, and Chester for helping!
Of course, we need pics, so here they are:
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Citabria at Trigger Gap.jpg
At Trigger Gap (17A) on the way home.
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Hans flight training.jpg
Fun day with Hans!
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Long day Friday!.jpg
Looong day of flight training!