Air-to-Air Piper Tri-Pacer

Lowflynjack

Lowflynjack

Final Approach
PoA Supporter
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
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Display Name
Jack Fleetwood
Jim has four Tri-Pacers! He's flying this one, restoring another one, and has a couple waiting their turn! I think the may one of the most thankful people to do a magazine shoot that I've ever worked with!

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I always wondered why the nose wheel looks so long on these. Is it just that the shock absorber has more travel than other types and extends more when airborn?
 
Fond memories of a Tripacer I met at a fuel and food stop.

We had looked at the long access road down to the left, longer highway back up hill to the right, and the only place to eat way over there.

I commented we would just go hungry for an hour or two, and those three guys in the Tripacer said "follow us, we came to eat here, our favorite place". We walked away from the drive down hill to the end of the runway nearest the restaurant, they pulled on the chain link fence, a slit opened, and through we went. Short walk accross the highway, and we were there.

We shared a table, the food was great, and I learned that the Tripacer may look slow, but it was close to our Cessna 172 for speed, fuel burn, and useful load. The biggest difference was the cost of purchase.

Paint was not as nice as the one in Jack's photo's, but probably original factory. It was hangar kept, and in nice shape.
 
I have a soft spot for tripacers as my first ride was in one and i wouldn't be a pilot today without that experience. The owner recently told me that he bought that plane to use the engine for a homebuilt, but it was such a good flying little plane he couldn't bring himself to part it out.
 
Years ago I was a partner in a Pitts S2A. One of the partners was asked to do a mini airshow over a friend's waterfront house near Tacoma, WA. The friend had a Tri-Pacer, but had lost his medical. He was trying to figure out how to watch the aerobatic performance from the air. The partner that had offered to fly the Pitts pointed to me and said I could fly his buddy in the Tri Pacer while the acro demo was going on and the buddy could see the whole show from the air. I had never flown a tri-pacer before and was hesitant when both the owner and the other Pitts Pilot said if I can fly a Pitts, the Tri Pacer shouldn't present any problems. Well, the owner was going to be with me so I agreed. All went well and the owner was thrilled to pieces to ride in his plane again, and to see the show from the air. We even started a formation takeoff, but the Pitts quickly pulled ahead of the milk stool. We didn't have any problems and the Tri Pacer flew well, but I've never had the urge to fly one again. That box was checked off.
 
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