Life with a Luscombe: Shade Tree via Luscombe

I spent the first few months of Wednesday evenings in Biloxi going out to Shade Tree for the weekly fly-in dinner. Not yet owning an airplane, I always drove. It was also winter so nobody else was flying either since the days were short. Eventually, flight instructing got busy and my visits to Shade Tree became much less frequent.

Once I had firmly decided in my head that I would buy the Luscombe, I also decided to set aside my Wednesdays and get back to Shade Tree via the air. Alice, a former student, agreed to go with me for this first trip and we loaded up in the Luscombe bound for grass runways, free food, and good company.

Departing Ocean Springs, I climbed to 500 feet and followed the coastline westbound. Keesler AFB tower kindly cleared us through their Delta and handed us over to Gulfport. As usual, the controller wasn’t familiar with the alien idea of an airplane without a transponder so it took a little work for them to figure out where we were, where we wanted to go, and how we would get there without being able to squawk a code! Leaving the airspace to the north the controller said, “Luscombe 903, Squawk VFR, and Frequency Change Approved.” I tried to think of something witty to say on the fly since I couldn’t squawk VFR but nothing came to me.

Passing Keesler

The multicom into Shade Tree was silent and we found ourselves to be the only ones in the pattern. A decent wheel landing put us on the grass and we taxied over toward my friend Jerry who was waving. Alice went to see old friends and I showed Jerry around the Luscombe. Since the Luscombe doesn’t fly well in boots and I had forgotten my tennis shoes, we kicked our shoes off in the grass and I attempted to prop us off as Jerry held the brakes.

We didn’t have the throttle cracked enough and the still-hot Continental wasn’t happy as it drowned in fuel and heat. The clearing procedure worked and eventually the A65 sputtered to life. We taxied out and I went almost all the way up the overrun which can be used for departure on Shade Tree’s runway 17. I had been in and out of Shade Tree the day I bought the airplane but now I was departing with nearly full fuel and a passenger. Since I didn’t want to pay a visit to the trees at the end of the runway the overrun seemed like a good idea and we departed with no issues.

The ole Luscombe took its time in the climb with our full load. As we climbed, an idea popped into my head—I realized I had never stalled my airplane and wanted to try it out. We decided to do some steep turns, power-off stalls, and even a few power-on stalls. Jerry and I both took turns and then we headed back in for a full stop. The landing approach and round-out was normal but the roll-out gave me a good little surprise.

Shade Tree is a typical grass strip with some bumps here and there. As Jerry and I rolled down to runway, the right gear caught an interesting bump at about 30 mph and the airplane swung right. A very healthy dose of left rudder fixed the issue but it was my first experience with a taildragger really trying to depart the straight and narrow on me. Jerry mentioned he really noticed it as well and was glad I caught it when I did.

We shut down on the tie down line which was farther from our shoes than from where we started. We stumbled our way toward the shoes through a large patch of briars hidden in the grass, stopping often to pull out a painful sticker.

Two Old Friends

Dinner and conversation were good as usual but the sound of a radial pulled us back outside. The T-6 owner was giving his cousin a ride and Alice ended up getting to go as well. The Texan is definitely a smile-maker and Alice really enjoyed the flight. By the time she was back on the ground, the sun was sinking for the horizon and our day VFR-only Luscombe needed to get home.

Back on the Shoreline Headed Home

We retraced our steps home past Gulfport and down to the coast. While lower Mississippi is not what many would consider to be picturesque, the Gulf Coast at sunset from the air is not bad at all. We went down to 300 ft and enjoyed running down the coast just off the shore. We took pictures of a few mansions on the water and made our way around Ocean Spring’s shoreline to the Graveline Bay. Heading west towards Ocean Springs Airport, we climbed up to pattern altitude, joined the pattern, and made an okay landing. It had been yet another great evening with the Luscombe.

Over the Back Bay North of East Biloxi