Aircraft
This page is under construction, and eventually will either describe or link to pages for the various aircraft that appear in one or more of the Spearfish Lake Tales.
Unless otherwise noted, all aircraft are single engine.
Contents
- 1 Significant Individual Planes
- 2 Cessna 140 Rocinante
- 3 Cessna 150 Magic Carpet
- 4 Mooney Mark 21 Soiled Dove
- 5 Stinson 108-1
- 6 Cessna 182
- 7 Cessna 310 Songbird
- 8 Learjet 24A Skyhook
- 9 Brief or One-Time Appearances
- 10 Cessna 185
- 11 Cessna 207
- 12 Piper Super Cub
- 13 Pitts S-2
- 14 Cessna Citation
- 15 Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk
- 16 Airbus A300
- 17 Lake Amphibian
- 18 F-16
- 19 Sailplanes
- 20 Schweizer 2-33
- 21 Schweizer 1-26
Significant Individual Planes
Cessna 140 Rocinante
See Rocinante (aircraft).
Cessna 150 Magic Carpet
Mooney Mark 21 Soiled Dove
See Soiled Dove.
Stinson 108-1
Mark Gravengood's father's plane; At the beginning of Rocinante Mark flew Jackie down to Lordston and back on a trip to pick up some supplies for recovering Rocinante's wings. Later, Mark and a couple of guys from the Henry Toivo expedition also flew it out to Rod Matson's archeological dig in Chapter 27 of the book Absent Friend .
More than 5000 of the 108 series were built between 1945 and 1950. Initially Stinson was a division of Consolidated Vultee. In 1948 Piper bought Stinson and sold the remaining inventory as the Piper-Stinson. The 108 had a 150 horsepower engine (Franklin?), fabric covered metal tube fuselage, high wings, fixed main gear and a tailwheel. Seats for pilot and 3 passengers; a baggage compartment behind the rear seats. Cruising speed around 110 mph.
Wikipedia page for Stinson 108
Cessna 182
The Cessna 182 is a outgrowth of the 152 and 172 predecessors and are a single engine, four-seat, high wing, fixed tricycle landing gear (a retractable model is available), monoplane first introduced in 1956 as a tricycle gear variant of the Cessna 180. In 1957, the 182A variant was introduced along with the name Skylane. The 182 series is still currently marketed (as of this writing) and is usually equipped with a 230 hp (171 kw) 6 cylinder Continental O-470-L engine (a turbo model is available). Useful load: 1140 lb (517 kg). Cruising speed 167 mph (269 km/h); the useful range is 1070 miles (1722 km).
Wikipedia page for Cessna 182 series
There are at least two 182s in the SLT universe. The first, "Dirty Thirty" appears at Leadville Colorado in Rocinante Part Three Chapter 19. The second is owned by Hernando Aviation and Jennlynn leases it for a month while Soiled Dove (her Mooney) is laid up with an engine rebuild - see Chapter 15 and Chapter 16 of the book Magic Carpet .
Cessna 310 Songbird
The 310 has six seats, and is a low-wing, twin-engined monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear. It was produced by Cessna between 1954 and 1980.
The Wikipedia page for the Cessna 310 and the equivalent military designation L-27 and later U-3.
In Chapter 2 of the book Magic Carpet Jennlynn was given an hour of dual time in a 310 by a customer, and later in Chapter 8 of the book Alone Together she replaces Soiled Dove with SongbirdAT8. This is Jennlynn's third airplane, and she buys it under the name of her company Skyhook Aviation shortly after the events of Chapter 18 of Magic Carpet; i.e. sometime shortly after May of 1995. Her 310 is a 1967 model and the name Songbird was already painted on the plane when she Jennlynn bought it; she considered changing it but her part-time pilot, Mike Hanneman, insisted on keeping it.MC20
Jennlynn: "...it sounded sort of dumb to her, and it could be painted out, and maybe replaced with Skyhook."
Mike: "Over my dead body. That’s the best name you can put on a Cessna 310."
Jennlynn grinned: "You win, Songbird it stays."
In Chapter 30 of the book River Rat Jennlynn mentions the above conversation and Al Buck comments "Somebody else watched Sky King on Saturday morning when they were a kid, huh?"
The web site for the TV show: Sky King
The Wikipedia page for the Sky King radio and TV shows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_King.
Learjet 24A Skyhook
See Skyhook (aircraft).
Brief or One-Time Appearances
Cessna 185
Mark rented a ski-equipped 185 to follow Josh and Tiffany in the Idatarod in Runner's Moon)
The 185 was introduced in 1960 and is essentially a Cessna 180 "Skywagon" with a strengthened fuselage and a 300 hp engine. The 180 is a 6-seat airplane with a 230 hp engine. It was introduced in 1952 as a heavier and more powerful complement to the Cessna 170. In 1956, a tricycle gear version of the 180 design was introduced as the Cessna 182 Skylane.
Cessna 207
Jennlynn buys one at Greeley and gives it to Jeff and Sheila for their missionary work)MC36
Wikipedia page for Cessna 205, 206, and 207 series
Piper Super Cub
Mark and Jackie found this glider tow plane at Waverly West Soaring Ranch, heavily modified with a much more powerful engine that still didn't have enough power.
Pitts S-2
A very powerful two-seat biplane used for aerobatics that Jennlynn Swift recalls flying and briefly considers as a potential second airplane)MC23
Cessna Citation
The Cessna Citation, like the Learjet, is a twin engined business jet. It is mentioned in a couple of the books as a charter, sometimes from Spearfish Lake airport, sometimes from somewhere else. One example is Chapter 40 of Facing the Storm , another is in Chapter 31 of Blue Beauty. The books always mention the "Cessna Citation", but to be correct the name "Citation" is used on a large family of bizjets, ranging from the first model (it's frequently referred to as the Citation I even though Cessna called it the Model 500) in September 1971 to the currently produced (as of this writing) Citation X. In Chapter 24 of Hearts of Gold we learn that Jennlynn Swift had bought a 1988 Citation IISP (Model 551) after selling her Learjet.
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk
While it was often called a Stealth Fighter and very advanced technically, it was never designed as a fighter, but as a small bomber that could carry its entire bombload internally. Due to internal politics in the Pentagon it was given a fighter designation. Its poor aerial combat capabilities contributed to USAF Colonel Max Hawkins's defeat in a mock dogfight with Jennlynn Swift in her aged but more acrobatic Learjet Skyhook.MC28 As noted in the story the Learjet was originally designed as a Swiss fighter-bomber (that never went into production). The Air Force retired the F-117 in April 2008. Fifty-nine were built, plus five demonstrators / prototypes.
Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk.
Airbus A300
In Chapter 31 and 32 of the book Magic Carpet we find Jennlynn Swift flying from Mexico City to a trade show in Chicago onboard Southern Airlines Flight 111, an Airbus A300. This airliner can seat anywhere from 220 to 375 passengers depending on the vintage and seating configuration.
After an aborted hijacking that results in both pilots being incapacitated Jennlynn ends up landing the plane, albeit with some coaching from an experienced A300 pilot in the control tower.
In Chapter 34 of the same book the A300 makes another appearance when Brenda Hodunk finds herself seated next to Jennlynn, and a very interesting conversation ensues.
Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A300.
Lake Amphibian
In the book Hannegan's Cove David and Stacy Newton have Randy Clark build them a custom home on an island in the middle of a lake. They already have a hot air balloon (which they use to help mount and install the windmill blades) but they also have a Lake Amphibian airplane that they plan on using to get to and from their new island house.
Official company website: http://www.lakeamphib.com
Wikipedia entry on the company: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Aircraft
F-16
At the end of Reaching for Wings, Bree Gravengood does a low level flyover of Mark and Jackie's airstrip in an F-16.
Sailplanes
Sailplanes (gliders) appeared in the books Rocinante, Busted Axle Road , Starting Late in Reaching for Wings and in one of the short stories.
Schweizer 2-33
(2-seat trainer) in Rocinante and in Reaching for Wings
Schweizer 1-26
(single seat) in The Outlanding in Reaching for Wings and mentioned in passing in Starting Late
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