Where to begin?

NC35447 is now sitting in my shop. Ok sitting there makes it sound like she is one piece...

There are stacks and boxes and a rack with wings, a fuselage, control feathers, and landing gear legs, all in generally the same area of the building. I stand here looking at this giant erector set that was disassembled when I was only four years old and wonder where to begin.

The truth is that I began this years before I found this plane.

In my head this all started back when this particular plane only had a light layer of dust on her. All my life I had dreamed of building my own plane and because of that I have spent my whole life learning the skills I would need when the time finally came. I walk into this project as a mechanic, welder, painter (auto and aircraft), and a pilot (ok, almost finished with that one). So with basics covered its now time to learn about this plane, it's history, and about Piper Cubs in general.

Unlike most most projects that I have delved into in the past, there is no manual.

I started by doing a records search with the FAA. They had ownership records going back to 1941 when it was rolled off the assembly line in Lock Haven. They also had the record of incidents (accidents) and major work performed, and the title information for both the airframe and engine.

With records in hand, I went online and begin studying everything I could about my particular model of Cub. What I found was that there are some wonderful groups and incredible individuals that are a wealth of knowledge on these old birds. The place to start if you are looking to get on the same path is:

http://www.j3-cub.com
http://www.cubclub.org
http://www.cubdoctor.com

J3-cub.com was an incredible find. I started reading the forum and following the various links and recommended reading that was shared there. It was there that I was put on to the Cub Club and Clyde Smith (the CubDoctor).


From the Cub Club, which I am now a member of, I purchased a complete backlog of all their news letters (Titled Cub Clues) that go back to the mid eighties. Inside these volumes are the accumulation of cub history from the past 30 years, and the knowledge of people who had owned these planes since purchasing them new from the factory. There are first hand descriptions of modifications and flight reports, tips and hints, that can found no where else. I highly recommend them to anyone who is planning on building a Cub that they picked up in pieces. They come in nice yellow binders with the club logo to keep them all organized.

From Clyde Smith I ordered the original build report for my cub. Being a former employee of Piper, Clyde was in the unique position to save all the records when Piper decided to no longer support the cub. If you want to know if the fuselage number, serial number, spar numbers etc, all match on your cub, Clyde is the only place to get it. To top it off he has a line of parts and some of the best knowledge and advice on these aircraft you can find.

With all of this information in hand, I quickly figured out that I had a few hurtles to get over before beginning the actual restoration.

The first thing to overcome was the registration status of my new plane. N35447 was due deregistered by the FAA when the owner that tore her down for the recover failed to respond to the FAA when they asked for the status of the airplane. This is easy enough to get past with a simple FAA registration form (FAA form 8050-1) and a check for 5 dollars, provided I was able to clear up the issue of ownership. I was lucky that the N number in question had not been reassigned and was still available, so with that knowledge and a stack of paper, I was able to send in my registration request and update the FAA ownership records.

When purchasing a plane from an heir, there must be an affidavit of heir-at-law (FAA form AFS-750-HEIR-1) to accompany the corresponding bill of sale (FAA form 8050-2). The last owner who purchased the plane from the widow of the deceased owner obtained both of these forms and provided them to me along with an additional bill of sale transferring the plane to me.

So with two bills of sale, an affidavit of heir-at-law, and and aircraft registration form I was off to the post office. To mail them along with a 15 dollar check (5 dollars for each form except for the most recent bill of sale that was exempt). Hopefully in a few weeks I'll receive the official registration from FAA in the mail and I can begin the build. There was one more hurtle though....

On looking through the logs and paperwork from the FAA, I found that the engine that was last installed in the aircraft was not done in a way that would meet the standards of the modern view of the Feds. The engine was changed back in the 60's with what is referred to as a 337. A 337 form is filed with the FAA any time a major modification that is outside of the type certificate is performed on an airplane. Now that process requires what is known as an STC or Supplemental Type Certificate. Though I may have been able to get the plane an airworthiness certificate with only the 337 and the accompanying logs books, I felt it was much safer to go the STC route.



I found through reading posts on j3-cub that a man named Paul Babcock had spent years of his time and who knows how much of his own money to put together an STC that not only allowed for the permission of the engine swap but also with a minor modification to the landing gear and the installation of sealed struts, a gross weight increase to 1220 pounds. This was a simple decision. I did a search on the FAA STC registry and found a number for Paul. I called him up and chatted with him for a couple of hours (not required but much enjoyed), sent him a check for 300 bucks and copies of my registration request and last airworthiness certificate, and he sent me a packet in the mail. The packet included the authorization for the STC, instructions, and all the factory drawings I would need to complete it.

I'm now ready to begin...

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