Currently Owned by: Dean Aldinger            

STATUS: Flying

LOCATION:  Truckee, California

Cirrus No. 64 has enjoyed one of the more colorful histories.  It's had several owners, been abandoned, and resurrected as an Experimental, with several very useful modifications - note the one-piece side-hinged canopy in the pictures, and the removeable inspection pan under the seat in the cockpit.

4/10/69 - Registered by Schempp-Hirth with the German Federal Office of Civil Aeronautics
3/13/69 - Sold for $6564 to Motorless Flight Enterprises (comprised of a partnership between the North Moosup Company and William F. Foley), 125 Farmstead Lane, Glastonbury, CT 06033.
5/18/69 - Assigned tail number N3797
6/15/69 - Sold for $8260 to H. E. Corry, 204 Acorn Lane, Libertyville, IL 60048

Duane Eisenbeiss, <eisenbeiss@compuserve.com> knew H. E. "Ned" Corry when he bought the ship as its first owner. (Bill Foley was the Schempp-Hirth dealer.) Ned and his wife Pat were both glider pilots. When they first took delivery of the ship Ned told Pat that "he" would make a few flights first to make sure that the ship was fully "checked-out". On one of the early flights Ned flew the whole flight with the gear down. When coming in for the landing he, of course, raised the gear. (He knew that he was supposed to do something with that handle.) Pat lay sunning herself on a lawn chair in front of the club hanger. Ned and the Open Cirrus came to a skidding stop in the grass just opposite of where Pat was lying in the sun. When Ned opened the canopy Pat yelled over to him and said, "Honey, is it checked-out enough for me to fly now?"

6/20/69 - Mortgage issued on plane for $9428
7/22/69 - "Special Registration" number N11NC appproved
10/19/70 - FAA proposed revocation of registration for failure to provide "Aircraft Registration Eligibility, Identification, and Activities Report"
Circa 1970 - H. E. Corry, Chief Pilot, Wickes Corporation, moved to 9690 River Road, Freeland, MI
4/4/74 - Sold to Arlon E. Skinner and Pat Ford, 711 E. Main St., Box 518, Medford, OR 97501 (no price indicated)
1/15/77 - Arlon Skinner sold his share to Pat Ford for $5000
6/28/77 - Aircraft reregistered to Pat Ford

Another Cirrus pilot reports that Pat Ford flew the ship out of Rohrer Field, the Montague-Yreka Airport in northern California (about 30 miles from the Oregon border).  Airport identifier is 1O5 (one Oscar five).  While clear evidence is not available, according to anecdotal evidence, the owner was never licensed as a pilot (flew under four student licenses).  It’s also reported that the ship was “crashed” several times, although there is no record of repair in the FAA records.

About 1988 - 1989 Pat’s interest shifted to sail boats.  At the moment his interest shifted his Cirrus happened to be tied out at Rohrer Field, where it stayed for several years.  The canopy cover eventually weathered and fell off and it could be seen that mice had made their home in the parachute that had been left in the seat. The finish was heavily oxidized and the Plexiglas was crazed in most areas.  It was not apparent that any delamination had occurred, but it was perceived as not being airworthy.

For a while, it apparently went through several owners without doing any paperwork (as recently as 1998 the FAA still showed it registered to Pat Ford). Around 1992-1993, it was sold to Tom Carter for 3,000 dollars as a project. Tom had it several years and didn't register or work on the glider. Tom contacted Jan Driessen the manager of the gliderport where Dean Aldinger flies at Truckee Ca. At that time Tom wanted to sell it for 2000 or something like that, and Jan sent several prospective buyers to talk to Dean about the cost of refinishing  and repairing the glider. (The shop rate at Williams Soaring Center is $65 per hour so it really didn't make any sense for such a neglected glider.)  Probably a year later, Tom calls Dean again and says his wife wants this thing - now a $300 Cirrus - out of the back yard . So Dean bought it and towed this rusted junk trailer, with a glider in it seen through the front hatch, back home. 

No. 64 had sat outside long enough for moss to grow on the porous gelcoat but it wasn't cracked. (much less work to refinish). The canopy was very crazed and the instruments and interior were worthless. After sanding most of the gelcoat off it was found that the bottom of one wing had been scraped up several times and repaired reasonably well. The boom had  cracked gelcoat and some minor glass work done. That was the extent of the damage - the glider had only 600 hours and was in good shape, just real ugly!  Five or six holes about 6 inches in diameter were cut to inspect the interior of the fuse and the bulkheads and controls. The rudder dampener was replaced, a fin T.E. installed, and statics in the boom put in. The cockpit bottom was cut out and made into a removable pan. The canopy man Ray Poquet made the male plug for a one piece canopy. Three months later there was a $2400 dollar black piece of plastic for a $300 glider! Dean then sawed off the old two piece canopy and the fixed instrument hood and copied the shape of our Duo Discus to rebuild the fuselage, and used the rebuilt fuse as a mold  for a carbon canopy frame.  The instrument hood is now removable making the pedals and the instruments accessible. A new fiberglass panel to holds  a 302 and Palm Nav, new Winter ASI, mechanical vario, new Dittel, and PZL compass.  (An old pellet vario may be put in as a joke!) A new wind up cloth seat made and larger side panels with pockets. A new 18M Cobra trailer was acquired.

By now the $300 Cirrus is now $26,000 and 900 hours . . . at the $65 per hour shop rate it's really a $58,500 plus the original $300!  The tail letters on the Cirrus are OC for open cirrus.  Dean's flying buddies are calling me "old codger". Maybe they will forget that by next year.  As you can see from the pictures, it was a stunning restoration!