`1946 fleet canuck for sale

[canwhitewolf]

fleet canuck for sale on kijiji tht id pass it along

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicle ... dZ49660896

1946 Fleet Canuck. One of 226 model 80 aircraft desinged by Fleet Aircraft of Ft. Erie Ontario Canada. 85 hp Continental, 57 hours since O/H. Total meticulous rebuild, Cleveland wheels and brakes, txpndr/encoder, new interior. Fleet skis. Some repair and assembly required.

[pianodude]

that airplane was on the cover of a canadian flying magazine(gettin' old and cant remember the name) about 25 years ago. i have about 50 hours on a canuck and they are a real joy to fly

[iflyforpie]

Good price, good condition (or so it looks from the photos) and good times.

[ScudRunner]

If you have the means I highly recommend picking one up!

[fl80]

They're definitely fun to fly, and this one seems pretty reasonably priced. I know of two other's currently for sale and they're both asking considerabley more. One is registered as owner maintenance and is asking about $39K and the other is around $50K. Hard to believe for an airplane that was well under $5K brand new.

[Cat Driver]

Things change over time.

In 1954 a Republic Sea Bee could be bought for $3,500.00.

Today $3,500.00 would not buy enough fuel to fly one for 50 hours.

And in 1954 I was paying $8.00 per hour solo and $10.00 Dual for the Fleet Canuck.

And a hooker on Jarvis street was charging $10.00 per servicing.

[Rudderless]

I have many hours in this particular Canuck (DZM) it was always well maintained and a joy to fly. For a long time, it was owned by an exec at Fleet Aerospace who was also an AME - a very experienced AME.

It has been in several articles in aviation magazines, and also on a Leggat Aviation calendar many years back. Still in its original colours.

Wish I was in the market for an airplane.......

[Cat Driver]

How did all those instructors manage to teach pilots to fly a tail wheel airplane without having brakes on their side?

[just curious]

My dad did his private on that one.

[Cat Driver]

Yup, your dad and me learned around the same time in the same school in the same airplanes......man that was a long time ago, I must be getting old J.C.

[fl80]

How did all those instructors manage to teach pilots to fly a tail wheel airplane without having brakes on their side?

Cat, that's a question that I would really like to hear your thoughts on.

I'm relatively low time with about 400 hours on the Canuck (all in the left seat) and about 800 in other taildraggers (mostly L-19's and Citabria). And I've often wondered what process those who did ab-initio training from the right seat followed.

I asked once before about the suitability of the Canuck for training at this point in history. I know it served well in the past, but as you pointed out earlier, things change. I have a teenager who's starting to think about learning to fly. Do I try to find an instructor who I'll trust with both my family and my airplane for ab-initio training on the Canuck, or do I get the ab-initio training done on a school machine and then do the tailwheel checkout myself?

[Cat Driver]

Hi fl80, I would be pleased to answer your questions.

Cat, that's a question that I would really like to hear your thoughts on.

I'm relatively low time with about 400 hours on the Canuck (all in the left seat) and about 800 in other taildraggers (mostly L-19's and Citabria). And I've often wondered what process those who did ab-initio training from the right seat followed.

It is nothing more than a state of mind fl80, we learned to anticipate and recognize the start of yaw when on the ground be it at five knots or fifty knots, we then used the very effective rudder on the Canuck to control or stop yaw as needed....if the student was allowed to let yaw get more pronounced to teach them the safe limits we then used power to either improve rudder effectiveness to control the yaw or to do a go around if needed.

Central Airways had four Canucks and four Cessna 140's and during the years I learned to fly there and then instruct there I can not recall any of our instructors ground looping one.

I asked once before about the suitability of the Canuck for training at this point in history. I know it served well in the past, but as you pointed out earlier, things change.

Logic would dictate that if a machine was well suited for the mission fifty years ago the only reason it would not be well suited for the mission now would be because the operator of said machine is not competent enough to operate it.....so we have come to the conclusion that it is not the machine that is deficient it has to be the operator.

I have a teenager who's starting to think about learning to fly. Do I try to find an instructor who I'll trust with both my family and my airplane for ab-initio training on the Canuck, or do I get the ab-initio training done on a school machine and then do the tailwheel checkout myself?

You own one of the best training aircraft ever designed for training PPL's, to deny your family use of that machine would be a great mistake.....there are instructors out there who can teach people to fly on the Canuck, all you need to do is find one.

It makes me sad to even have to explain this, however that is not your fault it is just the dumbing down of the training industry in general.

Please let me know how you make out.

[fl80]

Thanks Cat,

I appreciate the comments and suggestions. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions and I'll let you know when the kid gets started. It may be a year or two before things get started formally but there's lot's of learning that can be done in the meantime, sometimes just by hanging around and listening.

Again, thanks.

[Cat Driver]

fl80 feel free to PM or phone me anytime, now that I'm sort of retired I have lots of time on my hands.

[fleetcanuck]

Hi Catdriver,

Just curious if you ever flew or instructed in EOH at Central Airways?

Regarding your comment about ab initio on a taildragger, back int he '80's I asked an instructor if anyone was learning on the Cub they were renting. He looked at me in shock and asked "How would they ever learn to land?" First time I ever thought I was on the wrong side of the generation gap.

Cheers

[Cat Driver]

Yup, learned to fly and also instructed on EBE / EOH / GAW / and I think DZM was the also in the fleet.

Been a few years but I can still remember most of them because they were at the start of my flying.

Regarding your comment about ab initio on a taildragger, back int he '80's I asked an instructor if anyone was learning on the Cub they were renting. He looked at me in shock and asked "How would they ever learn to land?" First time I ever thought I was on the wrong side of the generation gap.

Sad isn't it when flight instructors can't fly the most basic of aircraft.

[LuckyPilot]

My dad learned to fly at Central, Cat you may have instructed him, not sure, but I have pictures at my parents home with him standing by a couple of Fleets. Anyway he went from there to the DEW line where he worked for ArticWings, Don McVicar"s, outfit WorldWide, and Holinger Ungava, finally ending up at EPA/CPair. Many years later I got a chance to fly the Fleet Canuck out at the old Stirling air strip one sunny fall day, WHAT A HOOT! At the time I was flying the Herc, talk about back to basics.

[zeister]

Ah, the memories. I earned my Private Pilots License in 1962-3 at Toronto Island Airport, Central Airways. My instructor was Barry Cameron (B.C.). I put in about 100 hrs on the Canuck. It was great fun to fly and very forgiving. I remember one incident when a student summer salted one on the runway. He had landed and his instructor said "apply brakes". He did! The prop was bent, the engine twisted on the mount and minor fuselage damage resulted. I don't know if that one ever flew again. I still dream about owning one! [/color]

[patter]

Fleets are the best of the best. I love that plane. I owned one once. Taught and flew lots of them over the years. No brakes isn't so bad, you learn to anticipate.

[alpha1]

my dad also learned to fly at central airways in the late 40's..was taught by the wong bros. in a C140..he loved it there.

[Hedley]

No brakes isn't so bad

I instruct quite frequently in tailwheel aircraft, me
sitting on the right side with no brakes. What bugs
me is when it doesn't have an accelerator pump,
either, so you really can't get much power on
very quickly, to increase rudder effectiveness
during rollout.

One can't help but wonder when the first CAR 602.01
(reckless and/or negligent) charge will be laid, for
doing the above. I can also see a charge under
CAR 425.23(2)(b) - that would be a tough one
to fight at the Tribunal.

Remember the poor fellow out west who, many
years after the fact, after the statute of limitations
had run out, had his license suspended for FIVE
YEARS for contravening CAR 425.23?

[Old Dog Flying]

I learned to fly on the Canuck over half-a-century ago in Windsor, ON. Soloed in 6 hours and got my PPL in 30 hours. No radios...no electrics...no starter(Armstrong type only)..and the original had fuel injection...read vapour-lock every day in the summer.

My last 2 students before retiring from instructing learned on a Canuck, GAU. Still with basic panel but it did have a radio.

The prototype Canuck is now back in flying condition at Wetaskawin

And the best part of the experience was that the Canuck was licenced Aerobatic. Here's a pic of one that I helped rebuild a couple of years ago.

Barney

[zeister]

my dad also learned to fly at central airways in the late 40's..was taught by the wong bros. in a C140..he loved it there.

Yes, I did a couple of hours on Central's C140A just for the experience. Great fun those tail draggers.

[black hole]

Dad had a couple of fleets in his flying school in Owen Sound(DPK & EOB). I was a little young then, and the aircraft were sold before I learned to fly on a Tri Pacer. About 20 years later and several thousand hours I got a chance to fly one.WHAT A TREAT!!! An honest aircraft. I think that if you had a 50 year old copy of "From the Ground Up" it was written oround the Fleet 80 Keep them flying.

BH