1968 Piper Arrow

This page contains information about my plane, a 1968 Piper Arrow, based at St. Charles County Smartt Airport (SET). It probably doesn’t make very interesting reading unless you are interested in flying. If you are looking for pictures, you will find them here. If you are looking for stories about flying, click on the Aviation category in the right hand column.
Performance

• 180 HP
• 135 kts. @ 75% power on 9.5 gal/hr of fuel (125 kts @ 65% power on 8.5 gal/hr of fuel)
• With full fuel (48 gal.)
  • Useful load: 686 lbs.
  • Range with 1 hour reserve: 554 nm.
• With fuel “to the tabs” (36 gal.)
  • Useful load: 770 lbs.
  • Range with 1 hour reserve: 378 nm.

Here is my kneeboard chart, in both Adobe Acrobat and OpenOffice.org formats: power settings.pdf | power settings.ods.

Documentation

Owners’ Handbook, 17.6 MB, Adobe Acrobat required.

Airplane Flight Manual, 588 KB, Adobe Acrobat required.
Avionics

• KLN 94 IFR approach-certified GPS (Pilots’ Guide, Quick Reference Guide) linked to the KX 155A nav/comm.
• KX 155A nav/comm with glideslope, including built-in CDI and timer (Pilots’ Guide)
• KX 175B nav/comm
• GPSmap 396 GPS, with XM WX Aviator weather and XM radio (Pilot’s Guide, GXM 30 Owner’s Manual for Marine/Aviation Products, Quick Reference Guide)
• KT 76A transponder
• PMA6000 audio panel with marker beacon and four-place intercom, linked to the 396′s XM radio for background music (Pilots’ Guide)
• Piper autopilot, with wing leveler and nav modes (will track either the KLN 94 or the KX 155A)

Operational Notes

Weight & Balance — Here is a spreadsheet with a sample loading problem and the corners of the CG envelope, in both Adobe Acrobat and OpenOffice.org formats: weight and balance.pdf | weight and balance.ods.

Autopilot — When using the autopilot in GPS nav mode, set the CDI scale factor to 1.0 mile by pressing CRSR on the KLN 94′s NAV 1 page. The autopilot sometimes allows the plane to “wander” almost a full dot left or right of course, which is almost a full mile at the default scale factor of 5.0 miles. It tracks with a scale factor of 0.3 miles but oscillates and I have doubts that will ever settle down. With the scale factor set to 1.0 miles, the plane generally settles down within 0.2 miles of the course and holds nicely. I think that turning the wing-leveller knob adjusts how far off center of the course the plane flies.

GPSmap 396 — Access the volume control for background music by briefly pressing the power button on the 396 and then using the left and right arrow keys to adjust the volume. Press Enter to accept the changes.