{"id":18304,"date":"2021-05-03T23:52:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T23:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=18304"},"modified":"2021-05-05T17:20:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T17:20:28","slug":"carolina-canary-turns-75-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/north-carolina\/carolina-canary-turns-75-this-year\/%20","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCarolina Canary\u201d Turns 75 Years Old This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above \u2013 Chris Comer, Courtesy of Jim Zazas<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Scott Malta <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Carolina Canary could be one of North Carolina\u2019s feathered friends, it is in fact, a beautifully restored and maintained, all yellow high-winged airplane owned and flown by Jim Zazas of Carthage, NC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Moore County Airport,\nCarthage, NC based airplane, is a Luscombe 8A powered by a 65 Hp Continental\nengine that was \u201cborn\u201d or delivered in Garland, TX on January 17, 1946. It was\nsubsequently delivered to the Plaza Airport about 5-6 miles northeast of\nCharlotte, NC on January 21, 1946. Although the Plaza Airport was closed in the\n1950\u2019s, the Luscombe flew on and in May of 1980, Zazas became the 16th<\/sup>\nowner of the airplane, an airplane that has never been based outside of NC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jim Zazas<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Zazas was blessed at an early by his late father who showed him unconditional love and fully supported what young Jim wanted. This led him to learning to fly and subsequently to flying C-130 Hercules transports in the US Air force for six years. He then became a pilot with Piedmont Airlines until the merger with American Airlines where he flew such \u201cheavy metal\u201d as the Boeing 727, 757 and 767 passenger jetliners. He also says he was very fortunate and blessed by friends who enabled and allowed him to fly some truly remarkable airplanes such as a Hawker Sea Fury, P-51 Mustang, T-6 Texan, Stearman, DC-3, B-25 Mitchell Bomber and P-2 Neptune. He also spent a few seasons as a volunteer flying a B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers with the Collings Foundation during their \u201cWings of Freedom Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quoting in part from an article\nentitled \u201cDream Weaver\u201d that Zazas wrote in 1994 and was published in the\nDecember 1994 issue of The Southern Aviator:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlying is one of my most rewarding\nadventures, whether I strap a Boeing 767 or my venerable 1946 Luscombe 8A to my\nback. Each machine offers me the chance to visit and explore places \u201cbeyond the\nhorizon.\u201d Whereas the former demands I conform to a closely supervised and\nregulated environment and schedule, the latter allows me a virtually unlimited\nopportunity to escape within a unique blend of magic and imagination. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love to explore and share with others\nthis playground of magic and imagination. Stretching the fantasy a bit further,\nI guess I could be described as a modern-day explorer. I am intrigued by what\nnew lands and peoples exist beyond the horizon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo above – The Plaques give the statistics of the airplane as well as chronical and represent many of Zazas\u2019 and Carolina Canary\u2019s flying adventures, such as the flight from Kitty Hawk, NC to San Francisco, CA.  One plaque describes in detail, the importance of doing a thorough Pre-Flight Inspection before each flight, where on one occasion he found a severely frayed elevator cable. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Zazas calls his restored and\nreconditioned Luscombe, \u201cCarolina Canary\u201d and with a twinkle in his eye, his\n\u201cMagic Carpet to Adventure.\u201d He flies the airplane, with limited navigational\nequipment, quite rudimentary by today\u2019s standards and by using a hand-held\nradio, in an \u201cold School\u201d manner, finger on a chart. He smiles and calls this\nIFR (I follow roads, railways, and rivers). Although he has flown this airplane\nto most states in the US, he still has not gotten up to the far northeast yet.\nHowever, he has flown the beautiful yellow with black trim airplane twice to\nAlaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zazas celebrated the 75th<\/sup>\nbirthday of his airplane in an intimate and quiet manner with a few close\nfriends and some airport staff. He had a cake made with an edible photo of the\nairplane in the frosting. There was a large number 75 on it and some candles.\nThe candles were lit inside the airport terminal and Zazas backed into the\npropellor-wash (a friend was in the cockpit monitoring the running engine and\nriding the brakes) to allow the airplane to blow out its own candles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zazas says he has made some\nlifelong friendships with Carolina Canary over the years. Again, quoting from\n\u201cDream Weaver\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps best of all, I have joined in\nthe comradeship of fly-ins and aviation events from Florida to Wisconsin to\nCalifornia to Alaska and beyond. It mattered little I had only a 65 hp engine\nto propel me to these adventures. Friendly chatter of airplanes old and new\nfilled the air when our respective magic carpets were secured for the night.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My little Luscombe provides me with\nmuch freedom and pleasure. The overall experience I gain from my adventure\nrests with my own abilities and confidence as a pilot. I do not push my limits,\nnor do I demand more from my airplane than it is capable of providing. I remain\nrespectful of the privilege to fly every time I fly.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, my Luscombe is a wonderful magic\ncarpet to adventure. The magic rests with the opportunity to fly. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where I fly is limited only by my\nimagination.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you happen to be in the vicinity of the Moore County Airport in the late afternoon to early evening and hear a quiet engine in the sky and look up and see a small, yellow airplane gracefully flying by, give a wave to Jim Zazas and Carolina Canary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Malta, A.A.E., C.A.E., Capt. USAF (Ret.) is a contributor to the State Aviation Journal and Airport Director at Moore County Airport.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above \u2013 Chris Comer, Courtesy of Jim Zazas By Scott Malta Although the Carolina Canary could be one of North Carolina\u2019s feathered friends, it is in fact, a beautifully restored and maintained, all yellow high-winged airplane owned and flown by Jim Zazas of Carthage, NC. The Moore County Airport, Carthage, NC based airplane, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Canary-75-1edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18304"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18344,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18304\/revisions\/18344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}