Hi
I see that the pacer gets mentioned quite often as a good bush plane.
What kind of takeoff and landing numbers are we talking about.
At lot of times [Bush Planes] are landing in short spots a high density Alt.
Could some of you guys list some performance numbers and include the altitude,engine ,prop,tires, field conditions [grass,gravel, ect] and empty weight as well as any other mods that you may have.

THANKS

I will first off stae I do NOT own a pacer but had looked at several before I bought what I do own. For me, the Pacer is lacking in the 'bush' department. They can be modified into a decent 'bush' type plane. They have a shorter wing span that enables them to cruise at a faster speed then their 'bush' brethern. The one's modified into what is generally called the "Producer" (?) they are quite capable.
There is one for sale in northern MN that has been heavily modified and looks like it would be a great all around plane. Not cheap though.

I've got a pacer that has very few mods and it's treated me just fine. I'm flying a 135hp pacer with the stock wing (not lengthened/no tips), vg's, somewhat flattened out prop, and 8.50's or GY 26's. It's hard to remember specifics of DA, takeoff roll, etc., so I may not give you as specfic examples ad you're looking for.


At 1000 DA and less, with myself and just over half fuel, I can get get off/land within 300' consistently.
with two people and full fuel, it's right around 500'.

at about 3000 da and 3/4 gross load, it'll eat up around 1000'.

at about 5000 da at full gross, it's roughly 1500' feet.

useful is 950 for me, so two people (350), full fuel (234), and gear (350-ish lbs left).

Bigger wings, bigger engine, fuselage lengthening, etc would make it nice (bushmaster is the word your looking for WWhunter), but that can all happen later down the road.

Nice ride RedWolf !

Hey Wolf, your Pacer looks great sitting on that river bar. Where's that at?
I like that patrol door. What size/pitch prop you running?

I like the sand bar pic thats getting the real fun out of your plane

hotrod150 wrote:Hey Wolf, your Pacer looks great sitting on that river bar. Where's that at?
I like that patrol door. What size/pitch prop you running?

Thanks, it's the Willamette River just east of Mcminville, OR. Several of them to choose from that are nice and smooth, although they're starting to dry out and get pretty soft.

Prop is the standard 74" with a 54 pitch.

My PA 22 had tips, VG's 160 HP and a 53 inch prop... I had roughly the same performance as redwolf maybe a little better... I could get 150 rpm over red line at runup at sea level if I wanted to which is nice to know in the back country. The short wing let it come down like a rock when flown slow which was great for hitting your spot on short strips..the nose wheel won't allow the 180 HP conversion so only pacers have that luxury... but the 180 HP pacers are veritable screamers when it comes to back country flying...as for the nose wheel on rough ground.. i once saw an old Piper video showing a tripacer taking off from a plowed field accross the plowed rows... pretty impressive..not as much room in the back as my Maule but when I went to JC every summer it was packed floor to ceiling with camping gear and still got off before the first outhouse,which is about 1000 ft, at JC (5000ft alt) when I left for home..