The Scout

A great aircraft. With this aircraft I can engage in my passion of bush flying. Fitted with Alaskan Bushwheels and vortex generators it is a capable short field aircraft and just the ticket for beach and off airport landings. Fitted with an O-360 Lycoming engine and a constant speed prop performance is adequate even when fully loaded. I enjoy it and it is a suitable replacement for VH-DJB, the old 172 I had to reluctantly sell to make way for this toy.

This Scout came from The Department of Conservation and Land Management in Western Australia (CALM, now National Parks), I brought it by tender in 2000. CALM are the biggest operator of American Champion aircraft in the world, they have a fleet of 10 on a 10 year rotation, they buy a brand new one each year and sell the oldest by tender. They use them for fire spotting, a task they are ideally suited to with great visibility, forgiving handling and huge fuel capacity.

Following is a collection of photographs I have snapped over the years.