Thought I'd introduce myself and throw some thoughts about buying one of these little fellers out there, and see what you folks think. If it gets long I apologize. I've been lurking here for awhile, and have read through as much information as I can...
So here's where I'm at - I'm a career pilot living in Southeastern Idaho...and since I started flying back in '91 I've dreamed of owning my own bird. I came up in a slow time in aviation, and had to do a LOT of flying to get where I am today. I spent so much time flying charters and tours and cargo and instructing that I figured that maybe I had gotten little airplanes out of my system, but oh, not so.
About two years ago now my neighbor tracked down and bought his father's 49 bonanza, and I've been helping him get up to speed radio work and so forth....man - I forgot how much I actually love flying airplanes. Just today I was flying over I90 in the Mullan Pass area and was scheming on how that looked like a good route to take in a pacer. Long story short I'm going to buy one one of these days soon.
However.....this is a daunting task. I started out looking at cubs and champs - fun sure, but not very useful, seems like you'd get bored going around the patch on Sunday morning, and then it would sit. I looked at 150's - a little faster, a little more useful load, waaay boring to fly. Hmm....a c-140 like I got my tailwheel endorsement in? Faster than a champ but still no useful load, you could travel in it maybe...if the wife and I stop every two hours and carry only toothbrushes. C-170? too expensive for what they are. c-172? yawn. Ive got a million hours in those. c-182? fuggetaboutit. It would guzzle so much gas I wouldn't fly. You get the point.
So, after much searching bang - there it is. The perfect airplane - the shortwing pipers, especially the taildragging variety. useful load, check. Low fuel burn, check. Acceptable high elevation performance, check. Acceptable speed, check (you can never cruise too fast, right?)
For my mission, which is- fun to fly on a Sunday morn, a challenge that will make be a better stick and rudder pilot, with the ability to take the wifey out to a BnB on the oregon coast if I feel like it.
The shortwings in order of my preference - 22/20, 20, clipper, tripacer, colt (maaaaybe).
But, and here's the but, and where I need some help and encouragement. How in the world do you find the right one? I get a little discouraged reading all the info - SB-819. The 0-290. Struts. Covering coming off. Damage history. BLEH I say! What to do? I know, pre-buy inspection and all that, but, are swiss cheese longerons and door frames all that prevalent? Corroded struts? What say ye?
Then, and here's where I don't want to step on toes but these are the thoughts that go through my head, so bear with me. I took an afternoon and read through the accident reports - the top killers are of course the usual suspects, CFIT, VFR into IFR, midairs and botched landings - but, there are a few other things that really got my attention. It seems like there are Lots of engine failures, and lots of odd unexplained structural issues. Just this summer a kid augered one straight in near where I live for seemingly no reason over flat terrain in the daylight in what I think was good weather.
So, I figured this was the place to ask. Are the engine failures mostly fuel mis-management? I suspect so but what say you? How about structural issues, have you folks got some wisdom in that area?
Mostly, I just want to reach out and start talking to you guys, maybe make some friends, and find a known airplane that is right for myself and my loved ones. So yeah, Im asking for help
Boyd Johnson
So here's where I'm at - I'm a career pilot living in Southeastern Idaho...and since I started flying back in '91 I've dreamed of owning my own bird. I came up in a slow time in aviation, and had to do a LOT of flying to get where I am today. I spent so much time flying charters and tours and cargo and instructing that I figured that maybe I had gotten little airplanes out of my system, but oh, not so.
About two years ago now my neighbor tracked down and bought his father's 49 bonanza, and I've been helping him get up to speed radio work and so forth....man - I forgot how much I actually love flying airplanes. Just today I was flying over I90 in the Mullan Pass area and was scheming on how that looked like a good route to take in a pacer. Long story short I'm going to buy one one of these days soon.
However.....this is a daunting task. I started out looking at cubs and champs - fun sure, but not very useful, seems like you'd get bored going around the patch on Sunday morning, and then it would sit. I looked at 150's - a little faster, a little more useful load, waaay boring to fly. Hmm....a c-140 like I got my tailwheel endorsement in? Faster than a champ but still no useful load, you could travel in it maybe...if the wife and I stop every two hours and carry only toothbrushes. C-170? too expensive for what they are. c-172? yawn. Ive got a million hours in those. c-182? fuggetaboutit. It would guzzle so much gas I wouldn't fly. You get the point.
So, after much searching bang - there it is. The perfect airplane - the shortwing pipers, especially the taildragging variety. useful load, check. Low fuel burn, check. Acceptable high elevation performance, check. Acceptable speed, check (you can never cruise too fast, right?)
For my mission, which is- fun to fly on a Sunday morn, a challenge that will make be a better stick and rudder pilot, with the ability to take the wifey out to a BnB on the oregon coast if I feel like it.
The shortwings in order of my preference - 22/20, 20, clipper, tripacer, colt (maaaaybe).
But, and here's the but, and where I need some help and encouragement. How in the world do you find the right one? I get a little discouraged reading all the info - SB-819. The 0-290. Struts. Covering coming off. Damage history. BLEH I say! What to do? I know, pre-buy inspection and all that, but, are swiss cheese longerons and door frames all that prevalent? Corroded struts? What say ye?
Then, and here's where I don't want to step on toes but these are the thoughts that go through my head, so bear with me. I took an afternoon and read through the accident reports - the top killers are of course the usual suspects, CFIT, VFR into IFR, midairs and botched landings - but, there are a few other things that really got my attention. It seems like there are Lots of engine failures, and lots of odd unexplained structural issues. Just this summer a kid augered one straight in near where I live for seemingly no reason over flat terrain in the daylight in what I think was good weather.
So, I figured this was the place to ask. Are the engine failures mostly fuel mis-management? I suspect so but what say you? How about structural issues, have you folks got some wisdom in that area?
Mostly, I just want to reach out and start talking to you guys, maybe make some friends, and find a known airplane that is right for myself and my loved ones. So yeah, Im asking for help
Boyd Johnson
