Altitude

[N4567A]

Sunday my wife went to the mall, so naturally I went to the airport.
It was a beautiful day in the Puget Sound, and I decided to see how the Tripacer handles altitude.
I left Fall City headed north, waitied until I was out from under the Class B veil from Seatac and trimmed her up for a cruise climb. Well, I ended up at 13,800 still climbing at about 260 feet per minute when I called it quits. Temps all in the green, no problems at all. I have an O-320 150 hp with a 58" pitch prop. I've only had the plane since January, and wanted to see if it will clear the mountains around here at sufficient elevation to calm my wife...a bit nervous around verical lumps of rock, and we're headed for the Bay area in a couple of weeks. Plane was full of fuel, tools and crap in back, probably at 1750 to 1800 lbs. My only other Piper experience at altitude was a Cherokee 180 belonging to the club I used to be with. That sucker was all out of climb by 10,000 to 11,000. Sunday was a fairly warm day by fungus corner standards, my DA was around 15,200. Now, my question. Just how terrific are these planes? What kind of ceiling can I realistically expect? Anything magical happen at gross weight that limits them to 7000 feet?
I was so happy the grin lasted right up to the sight of my desk on Monday.
Appreciate any and all input.
Rodg

[Stephen]

Hi Rodger,

You T-Pacer will do fine in the mountains. I'm out of Lopez Island and have taken my Pacer to numerous locations in in Oregon and California. The easiest route to the Bay Area is right down I-5. I just got back from Idaho and had do trouble in the higher altitude airports. You'll have a great time, post some pictures of you adventures.

[Bultaco Jim]

Rodge, from my experimenting with my two shortwings, they will beat the service ceiling data (100fpm@ gross) right up untill the warm day and you are really at gross. On a long trip, you can't legally stay higher than 12,5 anyway, so it's all good! Just last week I took the Colt up to 13,500 and trimmed it out for 15 minutes. Indicated 88mph and ground speed was 128. Still 200 fpm at 12k, but it took almost 12 minutes to make 13,5. It had full fuel, but just me (185 lbs) in it. Not bad for an O-235. Service ceiling is 12,000. Experience tells me that up at 10,5 or higher, it'll get 5.4 gph. The Pacer (O-320) will get 7.7 gph up high on a long trip. Just gets a little mushy when at the service ceiling, but in a Pacer, you have to carry Ox to find out! Up high is great - less (or no) turbulence, better milage, and you can coast a long way, if something quit.

[N4567A]

Thanks guys,
These are sure impressive planes.
Rodg