Husky V’s J3

[Larson]

We did a flight recently where I swapped the Husky out for a J3 on two legs.

The following are approximate numbers:
I was flying the J3 on 2 two hour legs: 1500ft, 2350rpm, 5.5gph on a C85 Stroker.
My mate was in the Husky: 2000rpm, 17inches, 4.8gph. (MT 210).

After the flight I went home in the Husky (real comfy).

The Husky did 7.5 hours in total, all low level and landed with about one hour fuel remaining.
That’s pretty good motoring!

Oh, was getting a pretty sore posterior after the second two hour leg in the J3! Missed the Husky seats .

 

[DavePA11]

Flew J3 from Boston to Peoria IL in front seat and had to stuff all kinds of padding to get the front bar in the seat from digging into my legs. Not a comfortable plane with stock cushions..

 

[belloypilot]

As the never ending brand ‘P’ versus ‘H’ debate unfolds, when asked why I fly a Husky versus some Cub variant the answer that always seems to end the conversation is ‘because occasionally I actually want to go somewhere’. The ability to travel 300 miles into the wilderness, camp for a weekend, then come home and land with an hour or more of fuel was one of the most surprising things about the utility of this airplane. Tough to beat.

 

[Ak Kurt]

As the never ending brand ‘P’ versus ‘H’ debate unfolds, when asked why I fly a Husky versus some Cub variant the answer that always seems to end the conversation is ‘because occasionally I actually want to go somewhere’. The ability to travel 300 miles into the wilderness, camp for a weekend, then come home and land with an hour or more of fuel was one of the most surprising things about the utility of this airplane. Tough to beat.

Absolutely spot on!

Kurt

 

[Ksmith]

Not to mention crash survivability.

 

[trapper]

Dont forget the fact that the cars will pass you up on the interstate!!! At least thats my experience plus I am always out of gas it seems. Try flying cross country in one you will appreciate your Husky

 

[Chris McClure]

I own two airplanes - a 2004 A1-B and a 1946 J3C with an 85 hp Continental. The Cub is fun to fly, but the Husky is much more practical for travel and for actually using it for cross-country travel for two people. The Husky has much better visibility when landing also...

For those who think the Husky is not good for cross-country - I live in central NC, and have flown it to the west coast and back twice - once to WA and once to AK, plus numerous trips to the Midwest and northeast. Also, my A1-B is IFR and about 10 percent of my cross-country time is in IMC. The furthest I have flown the Cub is about 50 NM to Carthage (BQ1) for BBQ and back with my granddaughter. The Cub top speed is about 75 mph.

 

[Snowbirdxx]

A 65 up J3 was my first plane. Flew it from Germany to Marocco (Africa ) in 1979. Only a battery powered COM. Would not do it again. But the trip was fun.

 

[trapper]

Sounds like Thomas had one hell of an adventure. My buddy flew cross country in a J3 and has some great stories. The best was landing in Nevada at a diner/gas station out of fuel and pushing it up to the pump while the people stared out the window!

 

[tbienz]

Yes, they CAN fly cross-country and they CAN fly IMC. But you also CAN ride a bike across the country. It works, but it’s just not the best choice. Every plane is a compromise and the Husky is a pretty good one, but if you like IMC and XC flight, an old T210 (like I used to have) would be cheaper than most Huskies and nearly twice as fast with easy flight-level cruising on oxygen. And yes, I took It into places like the Idaho ranch strips (Flying B) as the spring steel gear is quite good (but chickened out on the Root Ranch for fear of the gopher holes after the nose gear comes down).
Not “knocking” the Husky, I love mine, but if you don’t need to land in rough backcountry and like XC and IMC, it wouldn’t be my first choice.

 

[Proteus]

It's all about mission profile I guess. It's even better if one is able to have a machine for each particular job. For me at the moment though the Husky is my only aircraft and has to do everything. Fortunately it fits in with my general mission really well, and only occasionally would I like more space or an autopilot. I'm happy to take a hit in cruise speed as generally I've plenty of fuel and with the bushwheels effectively take the runway with me.

 

[belloypilot]

Sometimes I think this 'mission profile' concept gets twisted a bit. It seems to me the most desirable aircraft are ones that serve some primary mission very well, but are also good enough to be practically useful at broad range of other things. The folks that seem happiest with their aircraft purchases (and keep their aircraft the longest) aren't always the ones that focused solely the primary mission.

I didn't buy my Husky for long cross country journeys. I have a turbo normalized, tip tank equipped Bonanza that's capable of 1200 NM legs for that. Or so I thought. Once I started enjoying the versatility of not just how far I could go, but the places I could go, my Husky grew longer and longer legs. So far the longest trip I've logged is over 4000 NM in 10 days. In the Husky. Go figure.

Cheers.

Mike

 

[trapper]

I would never sell my Husky but i must admit i like my F1 EVO just as much for what it does differently. If I want to go long distances I can get there and back in one day if time is an issue. If i had only one plane it would be the Husky as it can do everything I really need

 

[Dave Burry]

Another good second aircraft for XC is the Mooney 231 or 252, certified to 24k and 28k, if you can believe that...!!!. You can buy a decent 231 for $100K+/- and a 252 for $125-50K depending on condition and engine. Mooney always put good King Avionics with a K150AP. I flew a Mooney Bravo for 15 years, sorry I sold it now. The Mooney factory is on “Life Support” right now, been there 3-4 times before. But, there are a joy to fly, reasonable cheap to maintain and FAST....!! The really really old time Mooney guys luv the E model, 200hp, manual gear, go 150-55k all day long on 9-10 gph. Dave B

 

[Snowbirdxx]

BTW. Mooney's firstcfirst engineer was Herb Andersen, same as the HUSKYS father

 

[trapper]

I actually looks at the Mooneys but I would have to learn how to land a nose wheel airplane! I'd probably tear the tail off of it. Ah hell I bet Kurt could teach me