Tony-
Boy that Waco is gorgeous--and from the sound of it you're having a ball!!
I never had the pleasure of flying any Waco--but I remember my college days
65 years years ago flying a rental Strearman-what a ball!!
I'm interested in your report of trouble with a battery powered non magneto ignition in
your "Shakey jake"--I have never heard of that type of ignition--what's
the story? Common back in the ole days??

Tony and CK,
It would be great if guys fly those Wacos in to Cedar Mills and park 'em side by side. Call now to get a room at Cedar Mills. Some folks camp as there is showers and bathrooms nearby. Hope to see both of you there. Saturday night is a great party.

Pat,

Thank you!

The Jacobs engine uses a combination of magneto and battery ignition – one set of spark plugs is powered from the magneto, while the other is powered from the battery via a coil and distributor system. I don't know how or why that system was adopted but I believe that Jacobs engines being installed on newer Waco's now used a dual magneto system.

Anyway, we had a lot of problems with ours. First the switch had to be rebuilt because to get a new one would require about 2-3 months from the manufacturer. Then when the ignition system itself gave us problems we started replacing pieces of it and we retimed the engine about 15-20 times. I lost count. Anyway, we finally gave up and ordered an electronic ignition STC.

The vendor installed the device inside the old distributor cap and we were flying again. Unfortunately, about 10-15 flight hours later this installation nearly resulted in a wreck of the airplane when the engine began to run rough my partner who was flying at the time lost a lot of altitude and then while switching from mag to battery (to check the ignition) the engine quit when switched to "battery". Fortunately, he got it restarted and began limping to the airport. The engine runs very rough and doesn't generate a lot of power on one magneto alone. He finally made it home and the engine quite just above the runway.

When the vendor who makes, sold and installed the electronic ignition opened up the distributor cap it was immediately obvious what the problem was. They had installed it improperly and the rotor had acted as a lathe on the retaining nut holding the carbon button on the inside of the distributor cap. After 10 hours or so it had ground it off and caused the failure.

That's more than you asked for, and maybe less than you want to know, but all I can say in a public forum. I was there when the distributor cap was opened up and I was apologized to but that's about it. My partner was so upset he couldn't even be there.

I watched as the repair was made and the cap replaced correctly the second time.

All I will say is that even when you thoroughly check an airplane after maintenance that doesn't mean the mechanic can't still kill you. It's not intentional, and anyone can make a mistake, but you need to be ready for maintenance induced failure even after a number of hours after maintenance.

I'm going to try to make it.

I did call to get on "the list" for a room/cottage. Apparently, if you want one you need to be on the list and they will begin to assign rooms on a first come/first served basis shortly.

Will do Joe.

James Mennella and I came down last year and had a great time. I'd like to come again if I can get away. For anyone within reach of Pecan Plantation in central Texas the fly in is a lot of fun and well done. Pecan Plantation itself is beautiful and if you ever thought you'd want to live in an airpark setting this one will make you want to move there. In addition to Joe, Don Gumm lives there. Anyone else on BT?

Good deal Tony, I hope you can make it again this year and we will try to get C K to bring his nice Waco over also.

As Glenn said, the Ceder Mills flyin is also always fun. We will be at Tullahoma that week or we would be there.

Thanks for the kind words about Pecan, it is a great place to "live with your plane"
There is this crazy lawyer who is on Beech Talk with a nice A36 that lives up in Decatur TX, that if he was as smart as his Mom & Dad he would also live here. But I'm not naming any names

Joe

Great! She is a beauty!

I've been flying the Waco about once a week. Somehow or another every morning I've flown the weather has been really nice. Last week it was actually cold in the cockpit at 1,000 AGL. I remember that pattern work got pretty boring as a student pilot but going around and around in the Waco never seems to.

This morning to break up the routine we did a couple of wingovers. That was a new experience for me. They are a blast! Diving down to 120 mph and then pulling up the first time following on the controls I felt a little nauseous in the pull up. But as we attacked a little cumulous cloud, blowing it apart, and the airplane was in a 90 degree bank and stood practically motionless in the sky I think I was hooked!

Amazing view when you look to your right and see nothing but green and to your left nothing but sky!

My efforts weren't as good as Doug's, of course, but at least I didn't lay it over on it's back in a spin. Can't wait to try that again!

Dad and I were out yesterday in ours and did some wingovers. Truly glorious fun.

Dad has 4000+ hours flying everything from dusters to Barons to Cubs...and it was his first time up in an open cockpit biplane.

Priceless!

Hey C K, Bring your Dad out to Pecan and we will show him the new place you picked out for him