Full Size C/L

[Mike Lauerman]

Years ago I had a subscription to Air Classics. There was an article in one about a gent (I think he lived in the midwest) with a small ranch.
He had a small plane, high wing cabin job, Aeronca IIRC. No land for a long straight runway, the man was restricted to a patch of ground that was perhaps 100 ft. in both directions.
He rigged a cable ('tether' style) to the port side of the fuse, at the center of balance...then warmed the engine up, and taxiied round 'til airborne.
When he reached '60 knots' (or thereabouts) he cut the plane loose, flying off with no strain!
He somehow had space to land, then taxi back to his takeoff point.

Anybody remember this story? Not so 'impossible', as the Alaskan Bush pilots land on the sides of mountains, then turn the airplane and take back off with a downhill taxi...

[Tim Wescott]

Hmm.  I could see managing that the third or fourth time, but when he was starting, how'd he fly the plane and puke at the same time?

You can often land in less space than you can take off, particularly in a low-powered plane.

[Will Hinton]

That's an incredible desire to fly!  It reminds me of missionary Nate Saint who would reel out a cable with a 5 gallon bucket on the end and do sharp 360 turns that would allow people on the ground to capture the bucket and empty it right in the middle of the rain forest.  That was with a Cub.

[john e. holliday]

Just finished reading the book this past winter.   Can't remember when I got the book.  But his exploits were something.  You know GOD had to be riding with him.

[Mike Scholtes]

When restoring my full-scale 1943 Taylorcaft L-2M liaison plane I found documentary proof that the military had tried this with light planes during WWII, with a  cable attached to some solid attach point like the spar or lift strut. Nothing as small as 100 feet, but apparently it worked in places where there was no room for a conventional takeoff. As all pilots know or find out, you can land in places you can never get out of. My T-Craft has deployable lift spoilers near the wing root, guaranteeing a landing in a place you can't fly out of. The experiments worked but were impractical in operation.