Hi team POA. I've spent way too much time on here the past few months as I was going through aircraft shopping and getting re-acquainted with flying after a ten year or so hiatus. I'm an advertising photographer based in central MN (www.adventurestudios.com). I've had my private for nearly thirty years and had a 1/4 share in an Archer for about 10 years (which accounts for most of the 250 hours in my logbook). I had a hard time getting it flown when work and parenthood took over and sold out of the Archer about 10 years ago. Told myself I'd rent but of course never did. My father is a private pilot with a Cessna 180 on floats, and I do a lot of drone flying for work, so I've stayed relatively close to aviation although I let my medical lapse, etc.
My son took an aviation class in high school, recently passed his checkride, and is pretty one-tracked at this point toward a piloting career. So my flying got rekindled and bolstered by a few factors including potential new destinations and the likely need for my son to build (a lot!) of time toward ATP requirements.
We ended up purchasing more aircraft than I dreamed. It's a 1982 Piper Turbo Arrow IV. About 2500 total hours and a recent overhaul. The purchase process was exciting, nerve-wracking, and educational in equal parts. I didn't have much retract time and none in model, so insurance required 10 hours of dual which I finished up on Monday. I presume they'll require similar for my son but haven't made the call to add him yet. We were able to rent one of the newer t-hangars at our local airport and although it's cold in the winters I'm secretly excited about the extra man-cave potential.
I have a good friend who's an A&P and we started with a Tanis pre-heater install right away. As I assume is common with any new plane I've already had to have an avionics pro behind the panel for a quick repair, and a medium sized list of fixes for my mechanic as soon as he can get to them. In the meantime I signed up for a 10-day IFR course in February, and passed the IFR written.
Thanks all for sharing your knowledge. I've already learned a lot on here with more to come I'm sure!
My son took an aviation class in high school, recently passed his checkride, and is pretty one-tracked at this point toward a piloting career. So my flying got rekindled and bolstered by a few factors including potential new destinations and the likely need for my son to build (a lot!) of time toward ATP requirements.
We ended up purchasing more aircraft than I dreamed. It's a 1982 Piper Turbo Arrow IV. About 2500 total hours and a recent overhaul. The purchase process was exciting, nerve-wracking, and educational in equal parts. I didn't have much retract time and none in model, so insurance required 10 hours of dual which I finished up on Monday. I presume they'll require similar for my son but haven't made the call to add him yet. We were able to rent one of the newer t-hangars at our local airport and although it's cold in the winters I'm secretly excited about the extra man-cave potential.
I have a good friend who's an A&P and we started with a Tanis pre-heater install right away. As I assume is common with any new plane I've already had to have an avionics pro behind the panel for a quick repair, and a medium sized list of fixes for my mechanic as soon as he can get to them. In the meantime I signed up for a 10-day IFR course in February, and passed the IFR written.
Thanks all for sharing your knowledge. I've already learned a lot on here with more to come I'm sure!
Last edited:
