The International Comanche Society - Pilot und Flugzeug

Comanche served in the late 1980s.
We’re now in the business of organizing
an intercontinental trip (called
“Leserreise”) every two years for people
who wish to fly their high-performance
general aviation airplanes to remote
locations such as Alaska, Australia or
South Africa.
We do this mostly for the PR that
comes with it and – let’s be honest – for
the heck of it! Our job: Organizing the
trip! This means basically flying the
intended route a few months in advance
to scout out all the problems and issues,
sort them out, make sure Avgas is available
and repeat the thing with a flock
of 10-15 airplanes a few months later.
The average airplane on these trips
is a cabin class twin or turboprop. Let’s
say a 340, ranging up to a PC12 or a
Cheyenne III. There’re also Turbo-
Mooneys and Senecas in the crowd, but
our Twin Comanche is definitely on the
lower end of the performance envelope.
Here is what I’ve learned: While
11Y is already serving us well for our
regular business trips within Europe
(300 – 1,000 NM), this girl can do so
much more! Outfitted with tip- and
nacelle-tanks its range (140 USG) and
speed (170-190 KTAS) make it a true
globetrotter!
So in early 2005 a coworker and me
set out to prepare the 2005 “Leserreise”
– a trip all the way from Europe to China,
stopping in Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal,
Thailand and Laos on the way east; and
in Cambodia, India, Oman, Bahrain
and Jordan on the way back.
To cut a long story short, 11Y did
just great! All the way from the hotand-high
conditions of Iran, the extreme
environment in the Himalaya to the
jungle of Laos and Cambodia, the Twin
flew wonderfully.
There were problems with SAP-
Millennium cylinders installed during
engine overhaul a few months earlier,
causing us to stop in Amman, Jordan
for maintenance, but they were sorted
out. Let me say that I’m flying Lycoming
cylinders now and the costs were picked
up by Superior.
On the actual main-trip in late 2005,
when the group was with us, 11Y did
marvelously again! Way faster than the
Senecas in the group, equally fuel efficient
than the Mooney M20M and with
a better load carrying capability (on
ultra long range trips of 1,000+ NM),
than even the Cessna 340; the Twin Co
proved all the reasons why I had initially
spent my last penny on that design.
One example: On a flight from Taipei,
Taiwan (RCTP) to Siem Reap, Cambodia
(VDSR), N7311Y flew 1,211 NM across
the South China Sea and Vietnam with
140 USG fuel on board in spite of constant
headwinds, arriving with more
than 90 minutes of fuel left!
A Cheyenne IIIa, flying the same
route as part of our group, had to divert
to Hong Kong for fuel. It has to be said
for fairness, that while we had on average
5-10 KTS headwind down low, the
Turboprop was faced with 20-30 KTS
at altitude, but it underlines the versatility
of the PA30 to be able to fly
fuel efficient in a wide range of altitude
levels.
Many of the larger Twins (C303, C340,
Seneca) did not even attempt the flight
on that day. On these ultra-long-range
challenges, the Twin Co was only second
to the powerful PC12 and a highly
modified Turbine-Bonanza.
(All the events and impressions from
these two flights to the Far East would
prove too much for this column, but I
have assured Kim that we could feature
the trip in future Flyers.)
Flying across the globe of course is
the exception. On a daily basis 11Y flies
for business, carrying me and/or staff
members on an average of 200-500 NM
trips throughout Europe.
And N7311Y – affectionately christened
“Gretchen” by a good friend of
mine from New York – has come a long
EDM engine monitor,
Approach-GPS,
large Moving Map
(MT Vision Air). The
cockpit of 11Y is a
workplace, not so
much an avionics
showroom. However,
the airplane has to
perform reliably and
economically
for business….
...and for pleasure!
Arriving at Endelave,
a beautiful island on
Denmark for a
weekand getaway.
way since its days as a basic cloudseeder
in Fargo, N.D. It now has a modern
panel layout, a basic (but clean)
new interior, an approach-certified GPS,
the STEC-30 two axis autopilot, a large
moving map (MT Vision Air) including
WX-uplink, realtime ATC-flight plan
submission, Terrain Warning and WX-
500 Stormscope display, backup gyros,
an engine overhaul, nacelle tanks, tip
tanks, alternators, lightweight starters
and finally last winter a new paint job!
Flying now around 200 hours a year
mostly for business, I’m planning to get
many more hours out of this exceptional
aircraft.
What I value most about the Turbo
PA30 is the versatility of the design.
While it’s an airplane that you can fairly
easily circumnavigate the globe with,
you can also take off from your favorite
500-meter (1,600-foot) grass strip near
the beach and fly with four people and
enough fuel on board to go 500 NM.
It’s giving you Bonanza-like fuel efficiency
and almost the load hauling
characteristics of a C210. All that at
twin engine safety and (for turbo PA30s)
a single engine service ceiling well
above Europe’s highest mountains or
Greenland’s dreaded icecap.
Even when comparing it to newer
designs such as the DA42 (which we
tested intensively) it’s simply the best
light twin design on the market as
long as you don’t require the pressurized
cabin.
Jan Brill, born November 5, 1974 is
managing editor of Pilot und Flugzeug,
Germany’s leading general aviation magazine:
www.pilotundflugzeug.de. You can
contact him at jan.brill@pilotundflugzeug.de
SEPTEMBER 2006