AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018 - 57

NEW INTERIOR

Since acquiring N62201, Haenlein has added a few extras, all while
striving to keep the airplane as close to original as possible.
The Stearman came with boat cushions in the front and aft seating area. He discovered that the airplane didn't have true Stearman
seats, but instead the type of seats that were installed in Vought
F4U Corsairs. In those warplanes, the pilot was meant to sit on his
parachute.
Warned that he would have difficulty finding ready-made seat
cushions, Haenlein turned to Carolina Avionics & Aircraft Interiors
in Salisbury, North Carolina, for help. The shop created custom red
leather seat cushions, each embroidered with the Stearman logo. Each
set of cushions is two pieces that Velcro together.
"It's probably one of the most unusual projects we've done," said
Warren Ludlum, vice president of sales and marketing for Carolina
Avionics & Aircraft Interiors. The shop had experience replicating
a vintage look-it refurbished the seats and completed some foam
cushion work for the Boeing B-17 Memphis Belle, which was used as
a platform for the 1990 film of the same name.
The noise of the open cockpit prompted a change in the intercom
system, and Haenlein also added a Garmin GNS 430W and a Garmin
GTX 330 transponder.
Otherwise, Haenlein has tried to keep the Stearman as close to
its 1940s configuration as possible. The microphone push-to-talk
switch is set up at the throttle rather than the stick, because the original Stearmans had nothing on the stick, he said. "The stick in the
Stearman is the same stick that's in a P-51," he said.

The cars on the
four-lane highway below
outpace you, but you don't care,
because you're in a Stearman.
They're going faster,
but you're going better.

LOW AND SLOW

By 7 p.m., heat waves are still rising from the taxiway at Moore
County Airport, and cumulus clouds are roiling on the horizon.
You climb into the fore cockpit, wincing as you step on those
pristine red leather cushions. You strap on a leather helmet with
goggles, because this is a Stearman, and what else would you
wear?
Pilot Bob Wall, who flies for Time Saver Aviation, starts the
Lycoming, and it rumbles into life as authoritatively as the original
Jacobs engine must have done in 1941. That throaty engine burns
around 13 gallons per hour, and oil consumption is about one quart for
every two hours of flying. "If it sits for longer than a couple of weeks
without flying, the first start it will spit out some oil and increase your
consumption by a half to one quart," Haenlein said.
Even with the upgraded intercom, the radio is loud and distorted,
and a little disconcerting. This is not an airplane in which you were
meant to do a lot of chatting. Instead, you might signal to the backseat pilot using the small mirror attached to one of the struts. Or he
might tug on your jacket.
As Wall advances the throttle and the tail comes up, you forget the
radio and everything else, and simply absorb the air coming fast at
you and the sight of the airplane levitating easily in 500 feet. At 2,000
feet agl, the air cools. The cars on the four-lane highway below outpace you, but you don't care, because you're in a Stearman. They're
going faster, but you're going better.
The Stearman is a lot of airplane, and flying it requires attention
and persistence. "Taking off is never really a problem," said Haenlein.

"Put the power to it, she rolls 500 feet and you're airborne.
It's designed to fly; it's not designed to land."
Cruising speed is about 85 to 90 miled per hour. The
300-horsepower engine makes the airplane a bit noseheavy, Haenlein said. You'd better be on your airspeed-60
knots-on short final, and don't pull the power until you're
ready to settle. "It drops like a rock, it doesn't have a float,"
Haenlein said.
Flying Sophie takes him right back to the days when
he was piloting his uncle's Stearmans on Long Island. He
shares that emotion whenever possible, allotting two hours
wherever he stops so that people can ask questions about
the airplane, and taking veterans for rides.
"It's not about me," he said. "It's about thanking them."
When he climbs into the Stearman on a calm morning,
everything else pales in comparison. "When I get time and
get into the Stearman, nobody can get hold of me," he said.
"It puts a smile on my face."
AOPA
EMAIL jill.tallman@aopa.org
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 57

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018

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