Jason Strong

Tell us who you are, where you live
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hangar0ne
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2020 11:47 pm

Jason Strong

Post by hangar0ne »

My name is Jason Strong, and on July 12th I bought a beautiful Red Falco, #1046 N708WC, from the builder, Dan W Dorr.

I took a commercial flight to Santa Rosa, CA, spent 4 days flying all around that area and doing as many TO+L's as possible.

Dan and I began emailing @2018, but the timing wasn't right for me at that time. I'd email him every once in a while, just to make sure he had not sold it, then 2020 hit with all of it's uncertainty and thoughts of buying an airplane wasn't at the top of my list.

In October 2021, I bought a nearly new RV-12 and was a great airplane to help me break the "high-wing" life I had been in since June 1971. The RV 12 is nimble, light on the controls, and economical to own and fly. My Wife and I took it on a few cross-country flights of more than 450 miles in each direction, and it turns out she liked flying for 4hrs better than driving to the same places in 8+ hrs.
There's nothing very scenic about I-95 and I-26 from Florida to NC.

After about 100hrs in the RV 12 (in 7 months), I began to think about a "better" cross-country airplane; I began to think about Dan Door and his Red Falco again.

Around April 2022, I sent him an email asking if he had sold N708WC and he said that he had not thought of selling it for quite a while. I told him about my RV12 and sent some pictures and also asked if he'd be interested in selling his Falco.

He wrote back and said, "If you're serious about buying it, I could get serious about selling it".

I told him I had listed my RV 12 for sale and was VERY serious about buying his Falco. That got the wheels turning. He wanted to complete the annual condition inspection, to include the I0-360 B1E engine, before selling the plane and that would take about 30-60 days because of his work schedule.

That gave me time to get the RV 12 sold and schedule time to fly out to California, train for a few days, and fly it back to Florida.

That's when the "adventure" began. You see, although I had nearly 2,000 hrs (134 of them in the RV 12 in the past 8 months), I really had never taken but one long cross-country trip over 500 miles in the past 20 years, and now I was going to fly a much faster experimental airplane with retractable landing gear, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean Solo.

Flying over 10,000' mountains, endless flatlands, unfamiliar airports, density altitude over 7,500', 95-degree temperatures, then towering clouds, t-storms, rain and high winds .... No Problem, right?

My family and friends were tracking me on Flightaware.com and were even able to text me in the air until I got past Texarkana.

As you might guess, there's a lot more that could be said, but I just wanted to introduce myself to the Falco Community and let you all know I’m very glad to be here.

Dan Dorr's Falco N708WC was the Reserve Grand Champion at Oshkosh in 2005, and his plane still looks good enough to win some awards, although I didn't buy it for that. I give him all of the credit for building and maintaining a beautiful airplane. It handles GREAT, looks GREAT, and is a wonderful cross-country machine in all kinds of weather; and I've been in a bunch of it with all of the "bumps" since day 1.

To summarize: KSTS - KMFR - KPIH - KBFF - KELK - KTXK - KEDN - KARW to KSFB (abbreviated route):
Note: from KPIH - KBFF - KELK - KTXK ... 7hrs 58 min. That was a long day.
18.5hrs
2729 NM
8 stops (mostly due to WX)
13 states (again, mostly due to avoiding WX)

ps, my Wife has already made me buy a "Be Kool" portable AC for the plane. You know how much fuel I could have bought with that money??? :-)
Alan Evan Hanes
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:41 pm
Location: Johannesburg South Africa

Re: Jason Strong

Post by Alan Evan Hanes »

Hi Jason,
welcome to the Falco world.

I have flown a RV7 and they are truly great planes but as Jeremy Clarkson said of the world's best cars (Audi's) is that they have no soul. I love my Falco, which is being restored, rebuilt and modified whilst trying to keep it airworthy.

Alan Evan-Hanes
ZU-BTT 2006 Sequoia F8L Falco s/n#820
Johannesburg, South Africa
Get there fast to take it slow
hangar0ne
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2020 11:47 pm

Re: Jason Strong

Post by hangar0ne »

Hello Alan,
Thank you for your welcome reply.

I’m over 100 hrs in the Falco now and I could not be happier. There’s a LOT to learn about maintaining a complex airplane. Oil changes are a snap, even with the Christen Inverted Oil System. Lots of room to work on everything with the top cowling off, even more with the lower cowling off.

Sept 2022 I upgraded the original avionics with 2- Garmin G5’s, a JPI EDM 730, Garmin Audio Panel, and an IFR Certified GNC 355A GPS/Comm. I kept Comm 2 and the CDI for ILS approaches.

I have a Garmin GFC 500 AP with 2 Smart Servos, but it is not installed yet. To tell you the truth, I may sell that equipment and go with a Dynon HDX panel like I had in the RV-12. It was an awesome system with great features and a great AP.

This past week I pulled the panel and moved some things around so I could mount an IPad Mini in the middle of the panel like Craig Schwab (N572AB) did before he went with a G3X setup.

Having an iPad with Foreflight, a Sentry ADSB/ADHRS/WX/and Traffic is a great backup.

I’ve got a minor issue with the landing gear tripping the circuit breaker, and it gave me a chance to try out the manual gear extension setup, and it was MUCH easier than I expected…if you don’t mind cranking the handle 100 times. :-)

Let me know how the work on your Falco turns (or turned) out please.

Jason
mschuler
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:21 pm

Re: Jason Strong

Post by mschuler »

Hi Jason,
Welcome to the wonderful world of Falcos.
My buddy and I spent 18 years completing C-GVKY in Burlington, Ontario. Hope to have it at Oshkosh in July.
You should consider joining us at the Falco dinner on Tuesday, July 25 in Oshkosh.
Best
Mike
hangar0ne
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2020 11:47 pm

Re: Jason Strong

Post by hangar0ne »

Hello Mike,

Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself.
I wish I could make it to Oshkosh, but I'll be working all week in Bristol, PA.
I've always wanted to fly in to KOSH and finally have an airplane worthy of the trip... and I'm working.
You'll have to tell me how much fun it was. :-)

Jason
pete
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:04 pm

Re: Jason Strong

Post by pete »

A long time ago I saw that airplane at a Flyin in Marysville California. Dan had just recently started flying it.
I immediately flashed back to my late teens and the brochure packet I got from sequoia aircraft... I was almost gonna build an RV8. Was gonna order a tail kit soon...

I blame THAT airplane for setting me on my current path. It's a beauty.
Alan Evan Hanes
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:41 pm
Location: Johannesburg South Africa

Re: Jason Strong

Post by Alan Evan Hanes »

Jason, I am grateful to be writing this to you here, as the outcome of your accident could have been so very different.

Wishing you well and I have no doubt that after you have flown other aircraft as a replacement for N708CW, you will soon be looking for another Falco.
Get there fast to take it slow
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