How many are flying

Larry Lowenkron

Larry Lowenkron

Member
I wonder if anyone knows how many Bellanca's (by type) are flying? The FAA registry does not really say how many of them are actually flying. Bob, does the club have any record of that?
 
The FAA. doesn't keep track of flyable airplanes. They compile lists of registered airplanes. This could range from the last Boeing 777 you rode on to a pile of "paperwork" on a Bellanca CH that resides in someone's desk. I think I have 10 Bellancas registered in my name, but only 3 are flyable at this time.
 
It would be a number that can't be known. I might list mine as flying, but the engine is sitting in a shop right now, but according to my mechanic it will be flying in 30 days. For every "flying Bellanca" like mine there are probably ten that are going to be flying as soon as the owner finds a new wing, or wins the lottery etc. I started to build a plane with a friend and we eventually sold the project (99% done-we sold it because the project killed our friendship) but we had registered it but never got an airworthiness certificate but boy I still get harrassed by California Counties wanting to collect tax on the thing. Once I had to show up at tax court in Tulare County with a big wooden box of all the parts and stuff I had left over so the tax assessor could see what he needed to assess. I later rented an apartment to that assessor and he counted that hearing as one of the highlights of his carreer. Anyhow, unless the feds get reports of which planes get annuals (which I don't think they do) there is no FAA link to the number. I suppose one could go to state tax roles but I think there is at least one state that doesn't tax planes, and in California, at least, the tax is by county. I think that route would be doable, but I'm not volunteering.
 
The FAA. doesn't get reports on annuals. My best guesstimate on flyable and near flyable Bellancas - like Peter's, would be: maybe 3-400 Vikings and single tail 260s, 30 triple tail 260s, 50 Cruisemasters, of all types and 100-140 Crusairs. The pre-war airplanes, of all types - not more than a dozen.
 
I can't speak for the other types but my interest got the best of me about four or five years ago and I tried to call every -2 master that I could find and I spoke to about fifty guys and widows etc and I think that dans estimate of 50 total cruisemasters is pretty close maybe 30 to 40 -2's. And like others have said many guys think they have a flying bird but it was out of annual for 5 or 8 yrs or whatever!!!!!! Although many have changed hands since then, I still have four pages of printed info if anyone wants to chase down a -2. Brian
 
Brian, my estimate included the 14-19 and the 14-19-2. I bought a -2 project several years ago. It hasn't moved under it's own power since '70. I didn't include it in my estimate. On the other hand, Greg Lucas bought a local -2, inactive for at least 20 years, with the original '58 fabric, made some repairs and it's a flyer! Dan
 
Dan, I was more optimistic in my guesses, but I readily defer to you. I thought there would be close to 1000 Single Tails (Vikings and 260s), 50 each of the 14-19 triple tail series, and 200+ Cruisairs. Oh well, just a guess on my part too.

Didn't they require reporting of annuals to the CAA back in the 50's?

Hmm, when (!???) I finish my RV-6, it would be a great project for me to fly around the US and find all the triple tails and photograph them. I think Russell Williams has a good head start on that! Larry
 
Until the early '50s, you actually got a new airworthiness certificate every year along with your annual. The CAA could tell if your airplane was in annual. IAs were relieved of sending reports of annuals to the FAA some time ago.
 
Dan I agree with you , I poorly stated that your estimate of fifty was total cruisemasters. I guess that was a bad way of saying 14-19 and 14-19-2 because it left out the other ones. My second one has not moved under its own power for 20+ years and never will. But parts of it are gracing the clouds anyway. There is a second one here in redding that has
been here for a few years now. Owned by a young man who inherited from his grandfather I believe. It has an interesting story in that it was annualled and flown out to california by a hired pilot, and I even tried to help the owner get time in his new bird by giving him the left seat once. Wow. But the next annual by my IA found some wing issues that sent them back to alexandria. The factory stated that they were the closest set to failure of any flying wings they had seen. But it is close to flying again this year. I guess that says something for how much they can fix.

Maybe we could start a forum to list all the N#'s for birds that each of us know the wherabouts ( is that a word) or the history of, I know could help with a lot of them. Brian
 
This had a certain "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" quality to it. Given that even the old guys at plenty of airports I've been to - during those rare occasions when mine has been flying - had never seen one before, that people have written to me, or posed questions on this forum, asking if anyone within three States of them had an airworthy one, that the notion of the Triple Tail Tour perished on the vine because nary a single soul would commit to even an off-forum email group conversation regarding any single event, not one of the four 14-19s at Kittie Hill (or maybe it was three) could fly (mine was undergoing an engine major), and the FAA can offer us no help here, the most precise answer we can come up with is:

DAMNED FEW

Of course I could relapse into that St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry the Vth about "We few, we proud few, we Band of Brothers," that I slapped into the TTT promo piece in the Newsletter, but I won't. Frankly the odds are heavily against us. They cost a lot to keep up, everyone has read what our own Lynn Ford had to go through to recover his, many languish for the want of wings, most forum readers do not have a flying example, and you can sell a Champ for more money than these fetch.

Point is that if you've got 'em, fly 'em because chances are you are among the last to ever have that privilege. And if you're working on one, carry on with a purpose but know you're doing it for love and that privilege. Love's labors lost among generations hence is more often the way of things than not.

Jonathan
 
Damn that sounded gloomy. Sorry.

And Rodney just got his brakes fixed too. He has returned to the air where these airplanes are at home, according to the Bellanca slogan. So, Larry, add another flying 14-19 to the list :)

Jonathan
 
How many have a valid Airworthiness Certificate? When I look at my registration it says Airworthiness - None.
I look at many other 14-19's and see Manufactured in 1950-1951 and airworthiness dates of 1955-1957 with one at 1997. I assume the 1955-1957 were back when the Airworthiness was issued annually with the annual inspection. I saw a few, including mine that had None for the Airworthiness. This leads me to question why it would state None and am I flying a Non-airworthy aircraft??? (insurance company would NOT like that). Many of the "None's" also had expired registration. My registration did expire and I have a copy of the letter to the previous owner that states - "The registration...expired... The aircrafts registration and airworthiness certificates no longer support operation of the aircraft."
O.K. so I applied for and received Regiistration under my name, but the registration on the web site states None for Airworthiness, do I need to apply for a New Airworthiness, or replacement, or reinstatement??? I don't know.... is anyone else in the same boat??? I won't point fingers, but I did see other flying 14-19's that have "None" for airworthiness on the registration.
Would major damage require inspection and issuance on a New Airworthiness Certificate? or is the Approval for Return to service on a 337 sufficient? I ask this so that I am armed with the correct paperwork before addressing this question to the FAA.

Thanks for any input, Ron
 
This is a painful subject for me because my friend Ron Merks was really eager to fly with me in my 14-13 when it becomes a flying airplane again. This will never happen now because Ron died last Thursday when the Lancair he was ferrying crashed on takeoff at Sundance Airpark near Oklahoma City. RIP, old friend...
 
I checked my airworthiness certificate, and checked through the logs, nothing indicated that the airworthiness certificate from 1956 would not be valid, so I emailed the FAA Registration site asking why my registration shows Airworthiness None, yet I have a copy of the airworthiness certificate dated 1956, would they like a copy? The FAA replied back, they have a copy of the Airworthiness and will update the record. I checked this morning and all is good!!! I feel much better knowing the FAA's records now correctly reflect the status of my aircraft.
I had also sent an email to the FAA about my Pitts, it's registration listed the incorrect engine, they were very quick to fix that too.
I recommend that everyone review their registration on the FAA site, and if you see any discrepancies, notify the FAA and they will make the adjustments.

Take care, Ron
 
Go to Flight Aware and set up emails any time one is in the USA Air Traffic Control system, set up a spread sheet and you'll be surprised to find ones flying you never heard of before. I've done this with Super Vikings (BL17) since last November and I can say there are about 600 BSV's flying in the US. I'm still finding a couple of new ones every month.

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Thanks Frank. I think that would work well for Vikings, but it seems to me that few triple tail owners even use the FSS or flight watch, let alone ATC. To paraphrase JB, we are a weird lot!
 
The crate flies a good bit. The last time I used the system was last year in the attemp to get to OSH. going west crossing over CAK these boys are never friendly it seems. You can cross above 5200 ft and not talk as it is class C. My wife and I went out to Willard, Ohio 8G1 on a craft show run. She loves to use the crate aka Jezebel to go to these things. I'm the pilot and she arranges all the trip. I went over CAK at 6500 no use talking if I don't have to and I didn't get jacked around . Just like the movie "12 O'Clock High" Willard is a 4000 ft good paved strip, home to one C172 , two ultralites, and 8 R/C planes. Guess which ones fly. A very old man was sleeping on the couch with the tv blasting. We woke him up! He couldn't believe that someone actually landed there. It's dead and we are the last of them. The crate flies on until it is time to get a R/C plane. Lynn :? :(
 
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