Physics hadn't been invented when Wayne was born.
Beechcraft Travel Air
- Thread starter retailguy
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Physics hadn't been invented when Wayne was born.
wabower
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Wayne
JHW
En-Route
Go fly a twin Comanche back to back with a t-bone and then come back to explain the error of your ways.
Skylane81E
Final Approach
Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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iFlyNothing
I had no issues getting insured in the Aztec at 225 TT, and that was without a rating about 3 multi time.
Dr. O
Pattern Altitude
To the OP.
Ya gotta start somewhere. A Travel Air is as good a place as any.
Since you have a partner, the first three years won't be as bad as it might have been - and especially the First year.
In three years you will have spent the purchase price of the airplane again, in maintenance and upgrades.
Finding a plane that is not a complete money pit due to 'deferred maintenance' - aka, outright lies in the logs - is the major first hurdle. You will need an expert A&P in Travel Airs to take to each plane for the pre buy (or bring the plane to him) inspection.
You are gong to be vastly discouraged before you find the plane that you SHOULD put your money into - as opposed to the one that you want (beware of shiny things dangled in front of you). Spending money up front on travel and lodging for your A&P will be money saved down the road.
Good luck
denny-o and Fat Albert The Apache.
Ya gotta start somewhere. A Travel Air is as good a place as any.
Since you have a partner, the first three years won't be as bad as it might have been - and especially the First year.
In three years you will have spent the purchase price of the airplane again, in maintenance and upgrades.
Finding a plane that is not a complete money pit due to 'deferred maintenance' - aka, outright lies in the logs - is the major first hurdle. You will need an expert A&P in Travel Airs to take to each plane for the pre buy (or bring the plane to him) inspection.
You are gong to be vastly discouraged before you find the plane that you SHOULD put your money into - as opposed to the one that you want (beware of shiny things dangled in front of you). Spending money up front on travel and lodging for your A&P will be money saved down the road.
Good luck
denny-o and Fat Albert The Apache.
retailguy
Line Up and Wait
That's a very nice plane. My instrument instructor has one, he's let me fly it, I like it a lot. My partner, however, has no interest. His Bonanza is a faster version in all but load carrying. It's just him and his wife, no weight issues there...
I see a fair amount with less than 6000 hours, but seem to be pretty rough. There are a few out there right now that seemingly have possibilities, but that's it. Hundreds of twin comanches, though.
I don't like the fuel burn. Even throttled back you're looking at 24 gals per hour. Everything I'm looking at suggests that it'll be significantly more expensive than the travel air, provided, the travel air is a quality plane.
Thanks for the good luck wish and the suggestions. We wouldn't consider a purchase without a pre buy who is an expert in Beech products. Ideally, we'd like to find one in the area where we'd be buying that does not have a relationship with the seller, but we'd fly someone in if that was the right decision.
Funny aside. the guy who bought our 172 flew in from Louisiana with his mechanic. The guy spent 30 minutes taking inspection plates off, my partner took them for a short flight around the pattern, they pulled out cash, and headed home. They were on the ground less than 2 hours. I knew there was no reason for a pre buy, but they didn't. There was nothing wrong with the plane. No deferred maintenance, no outstanding issues, I guess it showed.
Alexb2000
En-Route
160KTS at 10K 16.4 GPH total. B55 with 470's.
http://www.csobeech.com/flight-pics.html
That's why I just don't understand a TA.
JHW
En-Route
i overhauled both engines for ~12K apiece. That's the bright point of the TA
Alexb2000
En-Route
It's getting difficult to find good copies of one, without the turbo normalized mod the OEI altitude is a bit lackluster, with the turbos it does pretty well and will walk away from a 55 Baron above 12,500'. You are a bit load limited with full fuel, but not too bad. You'll need to be sucking O2 and running turbos if you want to see 180kts cruise. The main thing to watch for is corrosion on the control surfaces, they are all Magnesium, and only the ailerons have aluminum replacements IIRC. The tail is a T-34 tail, and while Fuji made a T-34 under license with aluminum tail feathers, they are not STC'd or otherwise approved for use on Beech T-34s or the BE-95. While not difficult to find, they are pricey and prone to corrosion. There aren't a bunch of good copies left around, but there are some if you look hard enough. A turbo comes up every now and then and is worth waiting for if you want a Travelair.
As for 'non standard throttles', it's easily argued that it has standard throttles and later model planes changed the standard, even the 55 and 56 Barons had center throttles as does a DC-3, BE-18 and so on.... It's really a non issue.
As for 'non standard throttles', it's easily argued that it has standard throttles and later model planes changed the standard, even the 55 and 56 Barons had center throttles as does a DC-3, BE-18 and so on.... It's really a non issue.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
Some do - An extended nose with baggage compartment was one of the Miller mods. However, most (>80%) do not.
Dunno if I'd say "Most". Only the 1970-1972 (PA39) models came from the factory with CR props. While many others have been modified to have CR props, the number now equipped is significantly less than 50%.
Well, except the DA42, but that's a whole different animal - It'd take about 10,000 hours of flying just to make up the difference in purchase price!
A Twin Comanche that has tip tanks has a MGW of 3725, but the last 125 pounds has to be fuel in the tips. Some simply leave the standard wing aux tanks empty and fill the tips to have the same fuel capacity with the increased gross weight.
A Twin Comanche with the Robertson STOL kit has a MGW of 3800 pounds, with or without the tip tanks.
A Twin Comanche with the 200hp engine mod will have a much better chance of flying away on one...
dell30rb
Final Approach
Curious how much good VG's would do on some of these lower powered birds in terms of OEI climb performance. Cheap, easy install, might knock 3-4 knots off cruise speed but it would be worth it if the single engine performance was noticeably improved.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
I've wondered if they'd do anything when combined with the R/STOL kit, too - But I doubt it'd be much. The R/STOL kit on the Twinkie consists of a cuff on the leading edge of the wing, stall fences, and converting the ailerons to flaperons which droop to 15 degrees with the flaps and come back up at full flaps. This reduces Vyse and Vmc both by 15 mph - Pretty impressive.
Skylane81E
Final Approach
No experience on small twins, but VGs are a "must have" on many of the larger ones. Good drop in VMC and a bump in gross for Chieftains.
dell30rb
Final Approach
I know Ted has some on his 310 but I don't know if he got the plane that way, or if he installed them.
frfly172
Touchdown! Greaser!
Owned a 1959 Travelair ,one of the best aircraft I have owned. Easy to fly very economical and not that bad on maintenance if you stay up with the little things ,have to look at prop times.go for it .got it down to 14 GPS on local flightss