Grumman Tiger, good bad and ugly

Ed Haywood said:
All planes are beautiful, each in their own special way. There is no such thing as an ugly plane. Except for an Ercoupe. :p
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Or a Wilga?

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RepublicSeabee01.jpg
I like the capabilities but not the esthetics...
 
jsstevens said:
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I like the capabilities but not the esthetics...
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I find Ercoupe's "cute" and I actually love the art deco aesthetics of the Sea Bee. Especially the shiny metal ones. The Wilga has a certain rugged, in your face machismo that I also appreciate. I guess I can find something to like about the appearance of all aircraft. I'm hopeless.
 
There's plain ugly, and then there's so ugly it's truly interesting. I put the Wilga in the latter category.
 
FastEddieB said:
The last time I "porpoised" was in a Mooney. My excuse is that I was so accustomed to the light control pressures of my Light Sport that I just didn't pull hard enough in the flare and touched down way flatter than I intended. 2 bounces and I got out of dodge before the third had a chance to do any damage. I'm not the kind of pilot who lands fast as a habit, normally aiming for the proverbial "full stall" landing with the stick all the way back. So it can happen to the best of us if we let our guard down. The rubber pucks in the Mooney nose gear don't help the matter, but its not too different from a Grumman or an earlier Cirrus in that regard.

My friend's Mooney later that day, undamaged:

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Undamaged? Dunno...looks like the vertical stab is bent forward. ;)
 
Actually, it really isn’t. At least it’s still SEL.

I haven’t flown our club Tiger since December. It’s almost a travesty. I like that aircraft more than the others by far. Although the new to the club Cherokee is nice.
 
Ed Haywood said:
My issue with the Ercoupe ain't the looks. It is the lack of a rudder in most of them. As a taildragger guy, that just shakes me to my core.
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Actually they all have rudders, just most don't need rudder pedals due to the coordinated controls.
 
I am soon to be the new owner of a Grumman Tiger.
Seriously liked this post for the info. But read all the sidetracking for entertainment.
Any more info about ongoing maintenance that I should know? Mine will be a 1977.
Thank you
 
Also, has anyone outfitted the steam gauges with either a dual Garmin G5 set-up. Or Garmin G3x or 275’s.

mine will have a GTN 650 everything else is steam so far.
Thank you.
 
Congrats! The only access I have to a tiger is a local rental / school - and they told me the owner is selling it. Tiger days are over for me I’m afraid.

Do you want to do IFR a lot, VFR $200 burgers, etc?
 
WDD said:
Congrats! The only access I have to a tiger is a local rental / school - and they told me the owner is selling it. Tiger days are over for me I’m afraid.

Do you want to do IFR a lot, VFR $200 burgers, etc?
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I am going to do a lot of X-C flying. Mostly within 500 of WI to islands and the occasional weekend trips.
I currently fly a Zenith Zodiac. So it will be an upgrade for me and I always liked the unusual not normal aircrafts more then the usual 172 and cherokees.

I do however have a glass screen but I fly a lot of steam gauges also.
 
Edy Kauan said:
Also, has anyone outfitted the steam gauges with either a dual Garmin G5 set-up. Or Garmin G3x or 275’s.

mine will have a GTN 650 everything else is steam so far.
Thank you.
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I have a 1979 Tiger that I outfitted with a GTN 650 and dual G5's. I do appreciate the G5's - nice to have an HSI, and nice to remove the vacuum system. Mine has the old Century 1 autopilot, but that can be driven by the GTN/G5, so the plane will follow a GPS course pretty well.

As far as recent updates, the older AA5 models have a new AD coming out requiring inspection of the horizontal stabilizer. This was based on the failure of a stabilizer rib last year that caused a hard landing (actually kind of an amazing saved landing considering half the elevator was dangling off the back of the plane). While it looks like it won't apply to the Tiger (AA-5B), make sure your A&P/IA follows the Tiger annual maintenance checklist and performs a "tap test" to verify integrity of the stabilizer ribs.

There are some good online resources you should definitely subscribe to: Grumman Gang mail list, and at least two Facebook groups (Grumman Owner and PIlots Association, and Grumman Planes). Enjoy your new plane - it's a great one!
 
AlleyCat67 said:
I have a 1979 Tiger that I outfitted with a GTN 650 and dual G5's. I do appreciate the G5's - nice to have an HSI, and nice to remove the vacuum system. Mine has the old Century 1 autopilot, but that can be driven by the GTN/G5, so the plane will follow a GPS course pretty well.

As far as recent updates, the older AA5 models have a new AD coming out requiring inspection of the horizontal stabilizer. This was based on the failure of a stabilizer rib last year that caused a hard landing (actually kind of an amazing saved landing considering half the elevator was dangling off the back of the plane). While it looks like it won't apply to the Tiger (AA-5B), make sure your A&P/IA follows the Tiger annual maintenance checklist and performs a "tap test" to verify integrity of the stabilizer ribs.

There are some good online resources you should definitely subscribe to: Grumman Gang mail list, and at least two Facebook groups (Grumman Owner and PIlots Association, and Grumman Planes). Enjoy your new plane - it's a great one!
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Thanks AlleyCat67,

I am subscribed to almost all that you recommended already besides the mail list.
Would it be possible for you to give me an estimate of how much I would be looking for a dual G5 set-up?

thank you,

Edy Kauan
 
I’m still amazed at that tiger Garmin updated as a show piece with G3, 650, GTX 345, etc.




From another post I’ve learned it looks like dual 275’s with their features beyond the G5 will get you close to the capability of having a G3. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/promotions/aviation/gi275bundle/

What kind of transponder do you have?
 
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Welcome to the club Edy. Good to see this thread revived again! ¡Viva Grumman Tiger! Now let’s see how long it takes for steingar to come bragging about his Mooney again :)
 
WDD said:
I’m still amazed at that tiger Garmin updated as a show piece with G3, 650, GTX 345, etc.
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Too bad they didn't show more of the pimptastic mauve interior.

Seriously, mauve, electric blue, a couple of different versions of green... Those '70's interiors... blaargh.
 
Edy Kauan said:
I am soon to be the new owner of a Grumman Tiger.
Seriously liked this post for the info. But read all the sidetracking for entertainment.
Any more info about ongoing maintenance that I should know? Mine will be a 1977.
Thank you
Click to expand...

Find the nearest guru. Gary Vogt, Excel, Yankee, True Flight, Fletchair

Edy Kauan said:
Also, has anyone outfitted the steam gauges with either a dual Garmin G5 set-up. Or Garmin G3x or 275’s.

mine will have a GTN 650 everything else is steam so far.
Thank you.
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Lots out there.

mr_happyland said:
Welcome to the club Edy. Good to see this thread revived again! ¡Viva Grumman Tiger! Now let’s see how long it takes for steingar to come bragging about his Mooney again :)
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My Tiger is faster than his C
 
WDD said:
I’m still amazed at that tiger Garmin updated as a show piece with G3, 650, GTX 345, etc.


From another post I’ve learned it looks like dual 275’s with their features beyond the G5 will get you close to the capability of having a G3. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/promotions/aviation/gi275bundle/

What kind of transponder do you have?
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I got a Garmin GTX335R Transponder. So the equipment is there to be easily upgraded.
 
Thanks every one. I will consider some of the Garmin stuff. And possibly look at other options as well. The Garmin Tiger looked very nice tho
 
This might fall into the ugly category.


 
Pilot did an amazing job - landing a plane when your elevator decides to delaminate - yikes!
 
Yeah, it really wasn’t too ugly.
 
And that's why we do the tap test every annual...
 
I thought the traveler used just about the same body as the Tiger - same bonding of the skins, etc.
 
It's basically the same. There was some aerodynamic cleanup and a larger spar. I believe the "purple glue" was an issue on these and early Cheetah and Tigers. I would assume most of that has been addressed.
 
WDD said:
I thought the traveler used just about the same body as the Tiger - same bonding of the skins, etc.
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Same fuselage body, yes. But the control surfaces are different between Traveler and Tiger.

Also, the fuselage body is honeycomb aluminum while the control surfaces are not.
 
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