WTB: Twin Comanche

Can anyone tell me what the cruise speed is of the turbo twin comanche at around 12,000 ft.

This is NOT out of the POH, but my semi-educated guess is about 175 knots. It depends a lot on the particular airplane as well though, whether or not it has speed mods and good rigging. I flew a normally aspirated one with speed mods that did 175 at 8,000 feet.
 
Nick is going to love airplane ownership whenever Barron finds one for him.
 
- The POH for the '65 Twin Comanche has a chapter 'Flight into known icing' that specifies what equipment is required for such flight. As far as I understand the certification rules, the fact that the known ice equipment is specified in the planes documentation means that there is no separate 'approval' for FIKI necessary for a particular aircraft. If it has the boots and the plate it's good to go

Yep - It was also certified under CAR 3 which I don't think even defined FIKI. There's an av lawyer who owns a Twinkie with the proper equipment and has determined that it should be legal, with boots on wing/tail and hot/alcohol props and windscreen.

- I personally think that the 'sweet spot' is the C-model before they went to the CR engines. While the factory lycoming price sheet only shows a $1500 difference for new/reman/overhaul, in a field overhaul the 'L' engine and 'L-prop' seem to be quite a bit more expensive. Charlie Merlot had commented before on how and why that is the case, may be worthwhile to ask him directly.

That does seem to be the general consensus. B model added the 3rd side window, C model added modern panel layout and modern style switches, so they're much better looking IMHO.

I've also heard that the C/R engines actually slow the plane down somewhat, though I can't for the life of me figure out an aerodynamic reason for that. :dunno:

- Stan Musick is selling a PA39 R-Stol with radar, miller-nose and some other goodies at a pretty interesting price. Don't know where it is posted, but he is pretty easy to find.

I couldn't find any planes by that description. Do you know the tail number or the general asking price? Was the C/R a conversion or was it a PA-39 from the factory?
 
Been there, done that. I bitched about it then, too.
 
- The POH for the '65 Twin Comanche has a chapter 'Flight into known icing' that specifies what equipment is required for such flight. As far as I understand the certification rules, the fact that the known ice equipment is specified in the planes documentation means that there is no separate 'approval' for FIKI necessary for a particular aircraft. If it has the boots and the plate it's good to go (for me personally the discussion seems academic, I don't think I would take one into ice even with the equipment).
I'll try to find the AD, from the late 90s, that adds a line to your POH, when there is no certification for FIKI, that specifically prohibits flight into known icing conditions. Even full dress twinkies are not certified for this.
 
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