The only entry step original to the L-5 was the one integral to the steel main struts on early airplanes. Sentinels equipped with aluminum struts don’t have them. Obviously L-5′s were made for limber 20-somethings, not most of us older folks who currently own them! I’m worried that if I ever get my L-5 flying again I’ll be so old my knees won’t work any more! At the rate I’m going it’s a possibility.
Anyhow, I’m not aware of any owners who have installed a permanent step except for an unregistered L-5G at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellesworth AFB. It has a slick little steel step that bolts between the strut attach fitting and the float fitting. The only problem with that design is that for it to work you either have to remove the fuselage fairing or cut a hole in it – not what most owners would want to do with such a rare and “unobtainium” part.
On the ambulance model you could probably engineer something similar involving the jack point and float fitting. On the observer a large Adel clamp placed around the longeron might work in place of the float fitting. Either way, any such mod would require a 337 to be kosher with the Feds. Maybe someone out there would like to put some thought into designing a step or maybe a sort of stirrup that could be hung from the door frame or strut and removed after mounting-up.
This reminds me that my 80 year old mother uses a small plastic step-stool with a string attached to climb in and out of her tall Ford van. After she’s seated she reels it in after her. Not elegant, but effective. Where you would stash such a device in the cockpit would pose a problem though.
The only entry step original to the L-5 was the one integral to the steel main struts on early airplanes. Sentinels equipped with aluminum struts don’t have them. Obviously L-5′s were made for limber 20-somethings, not most of us older folks who currently own them! I’m worried that if I ever get my L-5 flying again I’ll be so old my knees won’t work any more! At the rate I’m going it’s a possibility.
Anyhow, I’m not aware of any owners who have installed a permanent step except for an unregistered L-5G at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellesworth AFB. It has a slick little steel step that bolts between the strut attach fitting and the float fitting. The only problem with that design is that for it to work you either have to remove the fuselage fairing or cut a hole in it – not what most owners would want to do with such a rare and “unobtainium” part.
On the ambulance model you could probably engineer something similar involving the jack point and float fitting. On the observer a large Adel clamp placed around the longeron might work in place of the float fitting. Either way, any such mod would require a 337 to be kosher with the Feds. Maybe someone out there would like to put some thought into designing a step or maybe a sort of stirrup that could be hung from the door frame or strut and removed after mounting-up.
This reminds me that my 80 year old mother uses a small plastic step-stool with a string attached to climb in and out of her tall Ford van. After she’s seated she reels it in after her. Not elegant, but effective. Where you would stash such a device in the cockpit would pose a problem though.