My dad knew someone who crashed one of those. They (two people) stopped by when he was on duty one day. They neglected to check their fuel quantity when they left. Ran out on climb-out. Stalled, recovered, secondary stall, crash. Both men survived.
I had a grand total of 54 hours when I bought mine. Only two people would get in it with me. I have had two. The first was a GC-1A. 85 HP with a beech Robie Prop.
The second was a GC-1B of 145 HP.
What saved me originally was I had a pilots hand book for it.
They were kind of like the Martin B-26.You flew them correctly or you usually died.
You could do anything in one with just your little finger on the control wheel. An absolute blast to fly.
When Hurley Boehler {RIP} saw mw arrive one day he came up to me as I was getting out and said, " Your first lesson will be tomorrow at 6PM. Do not try to fly it again before then."
That man taught me so many things that saved my life over the years as not to be believed.
That 85 HP one was behind the power curve in a vertical dive. Bawahahaha
A question for you (former) Grumman owners: What happened to all of the AA1Cs? I’ve only seen two or three of them for sale in the past couple of years. Lots of 'As, many -Bs, but I seldom see a -C.
Forty years on, is there any real advantage of a -B over an -A (aside from cosmetically)? What’s the cruising speed and payload like with a 150 hp conversion? What’s the fuel burn with a 150 hp compared to a 108 hp/115 hp? (I generally figured 10 gph in dad’s Skyhawk. I always flew full-throttle.)