MONROE - A new airplane is available for training and fun in Monroe and Pageland: it’s an Aeronca Champ 7AC. The classic little two-seat, tailwheel airplane has this week begun to work for a living.

Roger Wood, owner of Aerowood Aviation, in partnership with Walt Hogan and Jim Efird, has acquired and made available to the public an airplane whose sole purpose in life is to enjoy the Sky. Requests from certified pilots and prospective student pilots to fly the airplane have already been almost overwhelming.

Most aircraft currently available for rent are designed for travel or training, and they fulfill that role very well. But the complex systems of these aircraft occasionally distract from the sheer joy of flying. The little Champ was designed for fun. Also, she’s a superb trainer for simple basic airmanship.

Wood, Hogan, and Efird bring to North Carolina Aviation an eclectic array of experience.

Wood is an accomplished businessman and entrepreneur who has climbed the Airman ranks very quickly from student pilot through Private to Instrument Pilot, Commercial, Flight Instructor, Instrument Instructor, Multi-Engine, and Multi-Engine Instructor, and is currently working on his Airline Transport Rating.

Hogan, a retired Navy carrier pilot and military instructor, is making the transition from military aviation to civilian aviation quickly. The Champ has little in common with the warplanes Commander Hogan slammed onto carrier decks for two decades, but it is probably more fun. There is talk of equipping the Champ with a tailhook for Hogan’s benefit, and perhaps we can convince Airport Management to install arresting cables as part of the new construction project...

Efird spent his college savings learning to fly while your parents were dating. Having later spent 16 years in Alaska, often hauling Indians and dogfood into strange places, Efird is Monroe’s “Token Bush Pilot”. His ratings include Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor, Instrument, Instrument Instructor, Seaplane, Glider, Glider Instructor, Multi-Engine, and Multi-Engine Instructor. A prolific writer in another life, he has written more than a dozen pilot manuals for high-end business jets, including the Lear 45 and Cessna Sovereign. He also serves Union County as FAA Safety Team Representative.

Business details for the fledgling operation are still being worked out, and even the website is still under construction; see it here at http://aerowoodaviation.com/Aerowood_Aviation/Welcome.html . But the airplane is available now. It will be hangered at Pageland and operated from both Pageland and Monroe.