Looking to purchase this aircraft. Any thoughts?

[Albert Murrer III]

We just sold our 1967 straight Twinco that we owned for about 3 year and were looking for another one that had an updated panel along with tip tanks and found this airplane. This particular one has turbos which we have no prior experience with. Looking for pointers and peoples thoughts/experiences with the Turbo Twinky. Also this plane has an extra pair of outboard aux tanks bringing the total to 158 gallons usable. Has anyone had experience or even heard about this mod? All input and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

http://www.jacksaircraft.com/aircraft/i ... afts?id=99

[N3322G]

Albert,

I have the outboard aux tanks on my NA Twin - you burn down the mains and then pump the fuel over. Ours were not well done, leaked and invariably had gunk when sumped. I had them disabled. I vastly prefer tip tanks, then the nacelle tanks for extra fuel.

Re turbo - unless you needed the function - they require more maint and add complexity.

Not sure how much it has been flown lately - if not a lot, plan on doing the engines.

Of course, get a pre-buy not an annual from an experienced Comanche shop.

[Kristin Winter]

The airplane is really heavy. I wonder if it has damage or what. You are over gross with 158 gallons without even stepping inside. I would want to know what is up with that. Lots of other potential issues.

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

It's about 200# too heavy for what it is. The air mod interior is part of that extra weight! Can't say much for the panel. It is updated, but stopped at the state of the art of about 1992. Not to say the stuff in it isn't serviceable, but you will need to spend close to 15K to be able to fly in today's airspace system (at anything other than big airports with ILSs) and add ADSB for the 2020 mandate.

Zach

[Albert Murrer III]

Meant to mention the issue about the weight in the beginning but they did re-weigh it yesterday and new empty is 2536. The STC for those tanks is SA1111SW. Says it increases gross weight by 180lbs. Is that on top of the 125lbs that the fueld tip tanks give you?

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

That weight is in the ball park. No, the Brittain and Miller STCs are not additive. You do get the higher of the two. The Brittain tip STC (or Piper kit if this was a factory turbo) specifies that you only get the 125# increase if you carry it as fuel in the tips. I don't remember if the same restriction exists with the Miller STC.

[Albert Murrer III]

[Timothy Poole]

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

G1000?? I know there is no STC for that in the PA-30, so that will be a pretty big field approval to bite off. Also there is not an ADSB solution for the G1000 yet so that will not solve that issue. It may save a few pounds over the existing equipment, but we are talking 10s not hundreds. What's in there other than the KCS55 system is not terribly heavy, and even it isn't that much. Going with an STCd glass solution such as the G500 or Aspen and an appropriate WAAS navigator with an ADSB in/out solution would be a much more cost effective way to go about it.

[Charles Schefer]

That airplane is based at the Dogwood Airpark not far from my home base. Locally it's know as "The Dog Patch". I don't know the plane or the owner but I do know someone else who lives at the Dog Patch and he knows the plane a little and about a year ago commented to me that he thought the current owner took good care of it and put quite a bit of money into it. I do know it's been on the market a while, I periodically look at TCs on the various websites (Controller, Trade-A-Plane, etc...) and it's been there for some time (over a year I think). During the time it's been listed I'd noticed the price has dropped from around 100K to about about 80K+ now I think?

- Charles

[Albert Murrer III]

[Albert Murrer III]

I'm also looking at doing the STC for the smaller nose wheel as well. Can anyone lead me in the right direction or let me know who to call/where to find it?

[Kristin Winter]

The owner of the STC passed on and I believe that the STC is defunct. You should be able to get a field approval without too much trouble as there are hundreds of them out there.

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

What Kristin said is correct. I can supply you with a copy of the STC for use as approved data for a field approval should you wish to go that route.

[Albert Murrer III]

That would be great Zach! Thanks to you both Kristen and Zach. Going up to look at it in a few days.