PA28 Archer II Check Out

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evapilotaz

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Doing a Archer II checkout tomorrow.

Looking at the POH it says "Fuel On" in the Power on and power Off Stalls procedues. Does "fuel on" mean Fuel Pump on?

First time flying anything with a fuel pump.
 
I would think the fuel pump is on for both maneuvers because its simulating a Landing Stall and a Take off Stall.
 
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Your POH has procedures for those?

It's probably a good idea just in case you jar the airframe in your recovery (not likely, but it's possible).

But, yeah, you're right that you should be configuring for landing and takeoff, respectively. The airplane can run continuously with the pump on; it's just not recommended so you can tell when you're depending on your backup.
 
Yes, fuel on means axillary fuel pump is on, just as if you were doing TOL. If it is your first time in a low wing you now must get used to there being an axillary Fuel pump, as well as the fuel selector NOT having a both position. Switching tanks will become part of you routine.
 
drotto said:
Switching tanks will become part of you routine.
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Clock on the dash becomes a useful tool for this... Minute hand between :01 and :30? Right Tank. Between :31 and :00? Left Tank.
 
MAKG1 said:
430s can be programmed to yell at you. I'd imagine 650s as well, though I haven't flown a low wing equipped with one yet.
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Yep. The 650 and 750 can be programmed to yell at you too. In the Utility menu there is an item to create scheduled messages.
Utilities.png
 
AggieMike88 said:
Clock on the dash becomes a useful tool for this... Minute hand between :01 and :30? Right Tank. Between :31 and :00? Left Tank.
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I usually switch tanks every 15 minutes.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Yep. The 650 and 750 can be programmed to yell at you too. In the Utility menu there is an item to create scheduled messages.
View attachment 44614
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Well, I flew an Archer with a 650 yesterday, and it did indeed yell at me every 30 minutes.

Now, if the HSI hadn't failed in the clouds, I'd be a happy camper.
 
midlifeflyer said:
If it didn't yell at you, you could have instructed it to. It doesn't yell at you by default

:eek:
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I usually use the minute-hand method to pick tanks in PA28s, as that works in all of them. But if it yells at me, I use that instead. I just don't like ignoring alarms.

Yes, I had to fly partial panel out of the clouds yesterday. In moderately strong winds, light turbulence and rain showers, with an HSI that lied to me about my heading -- but only sometimes. Fortunately, the weather was much better in the South Bay than the north, and those 1500 foot ceilings turned into 5000 foot ceilings (and I knew that due to my weather briefing, and had told Approach before the failure that I wanted a visual approach). An instrument approach would not have been fun. I did briefly consider diverting to SFO, as that was the closest field when the failure occurred. But it would have meant an approach, as the ceiling was still low there.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Just curious, @MAKG1, did you use the TRK shown on the GPS as a heading reference rather than the compass?
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Eventually, yes. It was not my initial choice, as I was on a vector. It turns out the GPS was set in heading up mode (my mistake for not checking that prior to takeoff -- lesson learned), and the bad heading information screwed that up, too, making for a distraction. But the DTK and TRK were good. Most of the flight, however, was vectors with significant variable wind -- the WCA was an issue. I asked for and eventually got a target (OSI VOR) to rectify that.
 
I thought the GPS's had track, desired track and north up. Never heard of a GPS having a "heading" mode. Heading is a compass heading right?
 
coloradobluesky said:
I thought the GPS's had track, desired track and north up. Never heard of a GPS having a "heading" mode. Heading is a compass heading right?
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Yes, GTN650s have a magnetic heading up mode. Why? Hell if I know. It makes sense for traffic and weather, but seems really stupid for navigation.
 
coloradobluesky said:
I thought the GPS's had track, desired track and north up. Never heard of a GPS having a "heading" mode. Heading is a compass heading right?
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Yes, technically speaking, it is track and not heading. (Without AHRS, a GPS has no clue what your heading is.)

But real partial panel is a situation which many would consider an emergency. If shooting an approach, course and track is what you want and, even if being given headings by ATC, close is good enough. GPS track information is going to be steadier than the mag compass in almost any weather conditions and much easier for many people than either compass or timed turns.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Yes, technically speaking, it is track and not heading. (Without AHRS, a GPS has no clue what your heading is.)
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Some Garmin GPSs, including GTN650s, have a heading-up mode in addition to track-up and north-up. Obviously, they need a heading input for this, but it need not necessarily be an AHRS.

Heading-up is useful for traffic, at least. I can understand why the input exists. But I can't figure out why anyone would want that on a nav page.

It was definitely heading, not track. It's not hard to tell the difference on a windy day.
 
Just to Update the this thread as OP. I flew the Archer Saturday. Nice to have the power of an Archer 181 engine up front. I ended up flying an Archer III because the II was in for 100hr inspection. I loved the Archer with its visibility vs High Wing. The Garmin 530 is something to get use to. I will never use all those features.
The ADS traffic warning was cool. Anyway the Instructor wants to do another flight to cover emergency procedures and practice landings. We only did one landing and only did one simulated engine out. I find with another flight with an instructor. I felt like I could use a little more time in it. Next flight is tomorrow.

BTW at the same time I got my BFR signed off and I wasn't even due until end of July.
 
I'm glad to hear you had a good flight! I need to get my next flight scheduled too.
 
Taking off from work to go flying with Instructor tomorrow. I wanted to do it Saturday but no availability and I didn't want to much time lapsed.
 
Sounds like fun. Glad you liked it.

I really like the visibility in an Archer, but that panel is HUGE. They also get really hot in summer, and the windows don't open (except for that little one).
 
So I get confused with the Pipers...is an Archer similar to a Cherokee?
 
CC268 said:
So I get confused with the Pipers...is an Archer similar to a Cherokee?
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The first time I soloed in the Archer, I kept calling myself Archer-1WG, and the tower kept calling me Cherokee 1WG. It was confusing me for sure. In the future, I think I'll just roll with whatever they want to call me. All of these planes fall under the PA-28 umbrella.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-28_Cherokee
 
Gotcha - my dad found a really really nice 1970 Cherokee for sale down at the Marana airport (around Tuscon) and was thinking about buying it as a plane to build some hours in - he really really wants an RV9 eventually though.
 
I always tell ATC I'm an Archer on initial call up and usually get called Cherokee after that. I don't care.

Who uses track up on a GPS? Yuck. North up for me.

My transponder has a timer that automatically starts with a pressure altitude change, so I use that for timing fuel. I switch tanks every 30 minutes and write down the amount used in a L/R column on my notepad(I have an FS450 fuel totalizer which is awesome).
 
azpilot said:
The first time I soloed in the Archer, I kept calling myself Archer-1WG, and the tower kept calling me Cherokee 1WG. It was confusing me for sure. In the future, I think I'll just roll with whatever they want to call me. All of these planes fall under the PA-28 umbrella.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-28_Cherokee
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I was flying a stiff legged Saratoga (PA-32-300) and ATC kept calling me Cherokee. I corrected him and he replied "they all look the same from here...) "Roger that." (No sense clogging up the airwaves.) He must have been a Mooney driver.... :rolleyes:
 
interesting twist to this thread..........charlotte approach told me about traffic that was a mile or two in front of me, said they're another cherokee. I said 'dagnabbit, I'm an ARROW!!!'. if we WERE just two cherokees, I wouldn't have been too concerned, but knowing that I'll overtake him, it makes a huge difference TO ME. I'm sure to ATC we're both 'planes doing less than 130kts' or something like that, but to me, we are NOT just both cherokees, from a speed perspective.
 
You were indeed two Cherokees.

And you can slow down just as slow as any other PA28.

Whether you need to do that has nothing to do with what model name ATC uses.
 
I don't know what this 'slow down' thing you mentioned is. I'm not flying to slow down so I can fit a "why can't all us cherokees just get along" flying profile. on paper, yes, they're all cherokees. in the air they are different airplanes.
 
I think his point is that the performance envelope between a cherokee and an arrow isn't all that great, so ATC has no need to distinguish the types.
 
CC268 said:
Gotcha - my dad found a really really nice 1970 Cherokee for sale down at the Marana airport (around Tuscon) and was thinking about buying it as a plane to build some hours in - he really really wants an RV9 eventually though.
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Mine is a 1970. Wonder how close the numbers are.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
ATC doesn't care, or they wouldn't have called me a Saratoga for several hours one day last summer.

If they did they would have asked why I was cruising at 125 knots.
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right, as I mentioned, I wasn't looking at it from an ATC perspective or an 'on paper' perspective, I'm looking at it from a real world perspective. similar to the 'toga, although we were talking about PA28's, not 32's.
 
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