Flew the Archer tonight...

Jim K

Final Approach
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...for the first time since I got the lance; about 6 months. Needed to get night current. I decided I'd rather let the fbo pull the club plane out than go to the trouble of getting mine, and I have several hours to burn off. Oh man did it feel small.

Also felt like it was in slow motion. Made me chuckle to remember how fast it felt everything was happening when I first learned to land in it. Must've seemed ridiculous to my cfi, who flew left seat in a Learjet.

Anyway, it was fun. Airplanes are awesome.
 
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Yes, funny how that happens. If you want to be great in a small plane, get proficient in a bigger/faster one.
 
I absolutely believe that. I'm wrapping up my PPL training now and it's all been in an Archer. My CFI let me ride shotgun in his Bonanza a few weeks ago and it was stunning how fast things were happening relative to the Archer. It drove home the importance of staying ahead of the airplane.
 
I absolutely believe that. I'm wrapping up my PPL training now and it's all been in an Archer. My CFI let me ride shotgun in his Bonanza a few weeks ago and it was stunning how fast things were happening relative to the Archer. It drove home the importance of staying ahead of the airplane.

And you can always fly a fast plane slow. :D
 
The same thing happens in airplanes of all sizes. You calibrate to what you normally fly and anything else feels either too fast or too slow; too big or too small.

My airline's 737 fleet is almost 90% -800/-900 which have increased landing speeds to provide additional tail clearance. That's what we fly all the time. Target speeds on Final are typically in the mid-150s. When we get in the shorter -700, without the increased speeds, our target speed might be in the low 140s and it feels like we're hovering on final. It actually difficult to slow the airplane down to target because it "feels" wrong.

I did my PPL in C-152s. After getting the PPL, I checked out in the C-172. It felt like a 747!

Then I did my complex checkout in a Beech Sierra. 747 again. C-310? 747.

My first turboprop (well, ONLY TP with any significant time) was the Jetstream 32. 747.

DC9? 747. DC8? 747. 767? 747. CRJ? Well, coming off the 767, the CRJ felt pretty darn small and slow and you had to wait to flare until it looked like you were 30' UNDERground! 737? A little small with DC9-style systems.

Actually, the 767 felt like flying a cruise ship.

Anyway, back in the early 1990s I was flying a Jetstream 32 from BNA to PNS, a flight of over 1+30. The guy I was flying with had been a back-seater in the SR-71. We figured out that the SR-71, at cruise speed, could fly BNA to PNS is a bit over 12 minutes.

Then there's the time I was flying Grand Canyon tours out of LAS. Flying over 100hrs/mo in the peak summer months. I'm driving my car down The Strip one hot, summer day and wonder what the temperature is. I look to the upper-left of the dashboard for the OAT gauge. Of course, it wasn't there because that OAT gauge is in the upper-left of the C-402's instrument panel.

Habits can be funny things...
 
Also felt like it was in slow motion.
Most of my time is in SR22T, and the last 50 hours or so in a multi.. the climb rates are awesome and the cruise speeds are fantastic. I get the same feeling when I safety for someone in a club 172 or Cherokee and we seeing a 300-500 fpm climb and level off into a nice 100 IAS cruise haha

Anyway, it was fun. Airplanes are awesome.
Yes!!
 
Took 49T out again tonight. It was 20g32 when I took off, but the turbulence wasn't bad. I wanted to go up today as it makes 7 consecutive days that I have flown as pic. Mission was to burn some prepaid club hours, and add a couple more pins to my illinois map.

First stop was Canton, IL, KCTK where I found this depressing sight:
20210506_183211.jpg 20210506_183227.jpg 20210506_183300.jpg 20210506_183413.jpg 20210506_183355.jpg 20210506_183458.jpg
These derelicts amaze me & make me sad. How long has this plane been sitting here waiting for it's owner to come back? When it was parked they put in cowl plugs & a sunshade. They left their headset. They were planning to come back.

The craziest part? It's registered through 2022....
Screenshot_20210506-203752_Chrome.jpg

Next stop was a cool grass strip 2C6. I've got about 10 left in the state, which is part of the reason I'm hanging on to access to the archer. I don't know why landing on grass is so fun, but it always is.

On the way home I applied full rental power and with a little help from a tailwind achieved my highest ever ground speed from the -181
20210506_191239.jpg

@NealRomeoGolf I think I can see your house from here
20210506_191354.jpg

That was fun.
 
this depressing sight

So sad. At my airport, the north end of the west ramp has a whole fleet of aircraft in this state. Just sitting, rotting away. Just sad.

But, on a positive note - Sounds like you had a great flight!
 
Took 49T out again tonight. It was 20g32 when I took off, but the turbulence wasn't bad. I wanted to go up today as it makes 7 consecutive days that I have flown as pic. Mission was to burn some prepaid club hours, and add a couple more pins to my illinois map.

First stop was Canton, IL, KCTK where I found this depressing sight:
View attachment 96134 View attachment 96132 View attachment 96131 View attachment 96133 View attachment 96130 View attachment 96129
These derelicts amaze me & make me sad. How long has this plane been sitting here waiting for it's owner to come back? When it was parked they put in cowl plugs & a sunshade. They left their headset. They were planning to come back.

The craziest part? It's registered through 2022....
View attachment 96135

Next stop was a cool grass strip 2C6. I've got about 10 left in the state, which is part of the reason I'm hanging on to access to the archer. I don't know why landing on grass is so fun, but it always is.

On the way home I applied full rental power and with a little help from a tailwind achieved my highest ever ground speed from the -181
View attachment 96128

@NealRomeoGolf I think I can see your house from here
View attachment 96127

That was fun.
I'm way up there in the blur.

CTK is where I did my PPL checkride in 2016 and that 6 was there then. Been there a while.
 
I can't remember the story on that one at CTK. I'll have to ask Ted @ CTK the next time I talk to him.
I didn't know 2C6 was hiding away over there until the last time I went to CTK. It looked like a nice little strip when I flew over.
I thought maybe you had stopped by BMI last evening as I saw one of the orange and blue Piper's parked at Synergy when I was taxiing to my hangar.
 
These derelicts amaze me & make me sad. How long has this plane been sitting here waiting for it's owner to come back? When it was parked they put in cowl plugs & a sunshade. They left their headset. They were planning to come back.
This thought often crosses my mind too. There's a hershey bar cherokee next to where the Aztec parks.. it's evident that at some point someone loved the plane.. but now? Fading, covered in bird guano, with flat tires

We never really know what the "last time is" that we do something. For big life things we do.. sell your house, car, etc., but so many things we take for granted vanish. It's a sad though.

What are the "salvage" laws like for planes. There are people who make a living off claiming ownership of abandoned boats and fixing them up real nice. At what point does a plane go "up for grabs"?

Great pics otherwise, thanks for the photo and quick write up!
 
This thought often crosses my mind too. There's a hershey bar cherokee next to where the Aztec parks.. it's evident that at some point someone loved the plane.. but now? Fading, covered in bird guano, with flat tires

We never really know what the "last time is" that we do something. For big life things we do.. sell your house, car, etc., but so many things we take for granted vanish. It's a sad though.

What are the "salvage" laws like for planes. There are people who make a living off claiming ownership of abandoned boats and fixing them up real nice. At what point does a plane go "up for grabs"?

Great pics otherwise, thanks for the photo and quick write up!
Looks Like the owner is in his late 80's. The headsets just laying there is the dagger. You wonder how much it would take to buy it. The guy I just bought a Cherokee from, he bought an archerii from a gentlemen in his 80's who's family convinced him to sell. Obviously the archer was in much better condition than that Six.
 
I can't remember the story on that one at CTK. I'll have to ask Ted @ CTK the next time I talk to him.
I didn't know 2C6 was hiding away over there until the last time I went to CTK. It looked like a nice little strip when I flew over.
I thought maybe you had stopped by BMI last evening as I saw one of the orange and blue Piper's parked at Synergy when I was taxiing to my hangar.
I was over there wed evening for the crosswinds club meeting. We had a member meeting to talk about buying another archer to take some of the pressure off the warrior, which flies 50-75 hours a month. One of the other members flew 49T; I took 2 guys in my Lance.

I would bet the tiedown is paid on that Six. Wonder how long it's been since the owner last saw it. Wonder if he has any family that even knows it's there. I can't help but think about the last time he flew it, laid his headset there, tied her down, and walked away. I also wonder how many hangars contain registered, insured aircraft that haven't flown in decades.

I have a letter written to my family with instructions as to where stuff is, what it's worth, and how to get rid of it in case something happens to me. The thought of my plane ending up like this makes me sick. It's just a collection of metal and plastic, but it feels like so much more.
 
Went back and looked at some historical images on Google earth. She appears on the ramp somewhere between 1994 & 1998. Looks like she's been moved a couple times for various construction projects, but been in that spot since 2010. It's possible it's a different pa32, but I'd guess it takes 20-25 years to reach this level of deterioration.
 
The cosmetics aren’t so bad. I’d be worried about what’s underneath. It would be a fantastic project for a school or something.
 
it would be a fun project, the only problem is that even if he gave it to you, you would be upside down in it (money wise) when you were through restoring it.
 
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