My new airplane has a weird propeller. What's the deal?

SixPapaCharlie said:
Thanks. Yeah, this looks like it will do everything I ask of it.
90 Gallons, 1180 Useful, 155 Kts, and a significant ceiling and climb over the Grumman.
I have a list of upgrades I want to make over the next couple years. If I find myself bored and rich, I am told I can add tip tanks and add 200 lbs more useful load and 120 gallons.
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My buddy has tips and that make it long legged. Too long legged. Since he's installed them he's only really used them a couple times. Comfort and all that.
I don't see an a/p. As solid as the bird is to hand fly, it's nice to sit back and watch it as it flies it's own approaches. Trio just got an STC for the PA24. Digital, and not a lot of money including install I hear.
 
Brad W said:
yep, sure is nice looking. congrats!!
...but why did they put gumps on the panel?....pretty sure every one of us can recite that mantra in our sleep
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My panel has GUMPS all spelled out on it. I guess that's someone's way of trying to keep you from landing gear up.

Which reminds me of my other bit of advice to @SixPapaCharlie. Don't forget to put the gear down. I actually drop mine three miles from the airport every time if I can. That said, my gear speed is ridiculously low, so I really have to plan for the deployment. Still, they say there's them that has and them that will.

GUMPS
Get the gear down
Uncercarriage down
Make certain the gear is down
Put you hadn't on the gear switch and make certain it's down.
Secure the gear down!
 
One final piece of advice from been-there-done-that. Don't forget to set take-off trim. In most light airplanes it's no big deal, you just push a little. The Comanche takes VERY HEAVY PRESSURE to overcome miss-set trim. Gets your attention when the nose starts coming up on climb out because you didn't reset it after your last landing.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Very nice! If you already have the 90 gallon wings, I probably wouldn't worry about the tip tanks. You have 6 hours of fuel onboard at 155kts. I don't know your mission, but I bet you can do about anything you want with that. From here in Iowa we can get nearly anywhere between the Rockies and Appalachians non-stop. My personal endurance is less than the airplanes.

I love the 250 Comanche (<-Hence the screenname). It is a great travelling machine and a great handling airplane. Don't let the landing rumors frighten you, its not that hard to land well.
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90 gals is more than Bryan’s bladder. First mod is a relief tube!
 
Tip tanks look cool. And Bryan wants to look cool.

200lb useful load is pretty awesome too. Not sure what it would cost to get them put on, but I bet it'd be about the lowest $/lb useful ratio you can get.

The ability to tanker fuel is nice as well. At least if you hangar at a high cost base like me. I never buy gas at CMI, I either buy it on trips or make a run over the DNV to fill up.

@SixPapaCharlie is there a gear warning system on the Comanche? In the Lance if you reduce MP to near idle, or below ~18" with flaps out, the gear horn and giant red light really wake you up. I've never had them remind me to drop the gear on final, but they do occasionally make an appearance during short field takeoffs or slam dunk approaches. I was much more nervous about transitioning to a RG until I found out how obnoxious the gear warning system is. In practice the massive performance change is a better reminder than I expected as well. In my plane I could easily tell if the gear is up or down even without the lights.
 
Jim K said:
Tip tanks look cool. And Bryan wants to look cool.

200lb useful load is pretty awesome too. Not sure what it would cost to get them put on, but I bet it'd be about the lowest $/lb useful ratio you can get.

The ability to tanker fuel is nice as well. At least if you hangar at a high cost base like me. I never buy gas at CMI, I either buy it on trips or make a run over the DNV to fill up.

@SixPapaCharlie is there a gear warning system on the Comanche? In the Lance if you reduce MP to near idle, or below ~18" with flaps out, the gear horn and giant red light really wake you up. I've never had them remind me to drop the gear on final, but they do occasionally make an appearance during short field takeoffs or slam dunk approaches. I was much more nervous about transitioning to a RG until I found out how obnoxious the gear warning system is. In practice the massive performance change is a better reminder than I expected as well. In my plane I could easily tell if the gear is up or down even without the lights.
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Got a horn with gear up below 15". You can hear it from about 3000ft agl tho. Yet, people still ignore it and belly in. Was doing clean stalls yesterday with a new CFI. Horn came on and his eyes got about the size of dinner plates.
 
Moving right along BrYan. Have a safe flight home.
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Assuming winds in KY are the same as IL/IN today, that thing is damn fast. I'm planning a flight going east this afternoon and expecting a 30+ knot tailwind.
 
steingar said:
It is wonderfully ironic that in the very funny ad @SixPapaCharlie put up for his
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Chip Sylverne said:
Welcome to the club!
I have the same prop. Best thing about it is it's a no ad. LoPresti called that the "synchro-pulse" prop, and yes it was supposed to force more air into the intake and cooling ports of the LoPo cowl. And add 5 knots. But every LoPo model adds 5 knots. Add them all, and you get a 300kt Comanche.

There are 2 keys to not "plonking" landings. The first is nail 80 mph(not kts!) On final. The second is to put 50lbs of ballast in the baggage compartment. And you'll want to learn to reach for the flap lever real quick after touchdown to keep it on the ground in any sort of crosswind.
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What helped me the most w/landing the Comanche is realizing the wing is very weight aware - the #'s for landing @ 2000 lbs are much different than landing @ 2700 lbs, and she'll let you know.

Marc
 
He landed for fuel it looks like. Watching his flight has me scrolling through the ad sites looking at planes again....this could be trouble.
 
With that 3 bladed, is the cabin noise quieter? That is probably my biggest complaint with my OG prop and thin windshield, it gets tiring after a few hours.
 
sorry for the side track...but how does a twin comanche compare to the single? Is it pretty much the same fuselage
I don't have a lot of piper time, and zero time in a PA-24. I remember the first time I saw one it was a twin comanche sitting on the sidelines of a grass strip we'd just landed at. It was a sporty looking little thing for sure! I liked the look of it a lot. It was just about the time I was starting to train in the schools Apache 150.
 
Brad W said:
sorry for the side track...but how does a twin comanche compare to the single? Is it pretty much the same fuselage
I don't have a lot of piper time, and zero time in a PA-24. I remember the first time I saw one it was a twin comanche sitting on the sidelines of a grass strip we'd just landed at. It was a sporty looking little thing for sure! I liked the look of it a lot. It was just about the time I was starting to train in the schools Apache 150.
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Same fuselage, and same wing essentially except for the engines. In a single the engine options are 180hp, 250/260, and 400. The twin is 160 per side, so you are basically getting a 320 hp Comanche. In the 180 we flight planned for 9gph/140 kts. The 250 is 14 gph/155 kts. In the twin it was 8gph per side, 16 gph total at 170kts. The Twin Comanche is a nice little travelling machine, handles identical to the single IMO. Does have a bit of a reputation about VMC loss of control, mainly due to the small tail. Best advice, just don't do that!

Only Comanche I haven't gotten my hands on yet is the 400. I'd love to try it, but doubt I'd like owning one. Yeah its a rocket ship, but it burns gas and that 8 cylinder engine isn't cheap to OH either.
 
Is there a difference between the 180 and 250/260 Comanches? Besides the engine and performance?
 
Back in the day, I was flying a leg in the Aero Club Comanche. After I rounded out, my “friend” in the right seat dumped the flaps. The ensuing landing was FIRM.

Cheers
 
Comanche's are really cool, I love the design aesthetic of it. I only have a little time in one (a -250), but was impressed with how well it climbed and overall how nice it flew.
 
masloki said:
With that 3 bladed, is the cabin noise quieter? That is probably my biggest complaint with my OG prop and thin windshield, it gets tiring after a few hours.
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Can confirm your plane is loud…


Edit: Oh and Congrats 6PC!
 
Who is doing your High Performance/retract endorsement training?

Was that included?
 
I'm assuming you flew home with an instructor, which would mean you're already half way thru insurance requirements!
 
When is the Comanche satire advertisement video coming out?
 
charheep said:
Is there a difference between the 180 and 250/260 Comanches? Besides the engine and performance?
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The airframe is the same between the 180 and 250, with the exception of fuel tanks. I believe early 250s had the same 60 gallons the 180 with an option for tip tanks. Then they added a 15 gallon aux tank in each wing not long after, although tip tanks can be added to any of them. The 260B I believe it was added the third window and option for a third row of seats in the baggage compartment. The 400 had a larger horizontal stab, I want to say borrowed from the Aztec.

Lots of info here
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-24_Comanche
 
masloki said:
With that 3 bladed, is the cabin noise quieter? That is probably my biggest complaint with my OG prop and thin windshield, it gets tiring after a few hours.
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Um, no. The only things that reall help the noise are sound insulation, good carpet and inflatable door seal. Cheaper to buy good ANR headsets for everybody.
 
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