I just attended a real great Bush flying course in Talkeentna, AK. The name of the school is Alaska Floats and Skis and they have a lodge on Christnensen lake. The instructor, Don Lee is a huge wealth of great information about back country flying and he taught me some great techniques.

I met Don last October while bumming around Talkeetna. Don was nice enough to invite me along for a short fishing trip to one of the nearby lakes with his friend who showed up in a floated 185. Don operates his school with a pair of PA 22-20 Pacers which was my ride at he time back in October. (I have since moved on to a C172 Tail wheel conversion with the Horton STOL kit) so we had lots of great discussions of how underappreciated the PA 22-20 Pacer is.

I returned last week to take the Bush Pilot course he offers. We took off and landed the Pacer in some pretty tight spots (on gravel bars and short gravel strips. Don taught me mountain flying techniques among other things and I found myself crossing some of the most intense mountain passes in the Alaska Range (Moose Tooth and around the Don Sheldon Amphitheater) with confidence and understanding. I would never have sold my Pacer if I had attended the course earlier. The planes were modified a little but nothing outlandish. The one I flew was fit with a Borer Prop, 29 inch Airhawks with larger wheels and double puck brakes and an Alaska bushwheel tailwheel. The wing tips were drooped and VGs were installed and it had the old relaible Lycoming 0320 150 hp.

Movies and Pics to follow

My first airplane was a 22/20 and I spent 3.5 very enjoyable years flying it all over the Pacific Northwest. I spent my honeymoon in the Idaho backcountry and took my daughter for her first airplane ride when she was 18 months old in that Pacer. They are a great airplane and do just fine in the backcountry if the operator understands thier limitations. I met another Pacer pilot and his family camping at Red's Horse Ranch last fall and it brought back great memories of my Pacer and made me wish I still had it. I have two little kids and my wife likes to bring too much crap so I had to upgrade to something bigger.

66skylane wrote:They are a great airplane and do just fine in the backcountry if the operator understands thier limitations.

Limitations......what limitations? lol.

My 22/20 has a borer, squared tips, and vg's and is a real pleasure to fly off airport/backcountry.

Highroad,
As you know I am a big Pacer fan and didn't mean they have any more limitations than other airplanes. They all have limitations. For example, in my nosedragging 182 I can't taxi through big gopher holes. At least not without spending some $$$. My pacer would just roll right through them, I do miss that. I don't miss the 100kt cruise and flying home from Idaho with a 250lb friend after a few days in the woods. It was a little tight for that.

66skylane wrote:Highroad,
As you know I am a big Pacer fan and didn't mean they have any more limitations than other airplanes. They all have limitations. For example, in my nosedragging 182 I can't taxi through big gopher holes. At least not without spending some $$$. My pacer would just roll right through them, I do miss that. I don't miss the 100kt cruise and flying home from Idaho with a 250lb friend after a few days in the woods. It was a little tight for that.

When flying a Pacer in the backcountry, you have to choose your spouse, kids, friends carefully.......ie, with a scale in hand.......

I agree with your statement about limitations........100kt's if pretty generous for my airplane.

In my Pacer, with the borer prop and 26 inch Goodyears, I am really happy to get 95 mph in high altitude cruise, and that is with 2600 rpms. That's the same speed as a Super Cub but, of course, I can carry twice as much "stuff" with me.
Charles

My Pacer, in a no wind condition, would typically cruise at 100kts groundspeed with 8.00's at 2600rpm (150hp). When I sold it I bought a 182 with O-470=50 engine, sissy pants over the tires, brake fairings, gap seals, etc. Now I get 140kts but it's not nearly as much fun to fly. I get there faster but the Pacer actually got better gas milage if you figured MPG. I see my old Pacer is for sale on Barnstormers with a brand new engine and it will make a great airplane for somebody. I actually called on it and considered buying it back but just can't afford two airplanes and need the family hauling abilities of the 182.

highroad wrote:..............
When flying a Pacer in the backcountry, you have to choose your spouse, kids, friends carefully.......ie, with a scale in hand........

Drop by the nearest biker shop, and pick up one of those "no fat chicks" bumper stickers to put on the RH door. That'll save a lot of explaining.

We bought our Pacer when my brother and I grew out of the baggage compartment of our Super Cub. That was around 1980 and she was still a Tri-Pacer then. Now she is a fire breathing 0-360 powered tail draging highly modified machine. She has been to Alaska 5 times. Burns about 9 GPH. Cruises at around 120 all day. I can not say enough good things about the Pacer's...


Our Pacer taking off from our home field.....


The next picture has the ultimate in Back Country Pacer Power......0-360 A1P with constant speed prop.....2000 FPM, 145 MPH cruise at 24 squared...I am going to get some video of this one sometime this summer.....

One day....

Check out Eddie Trimmer in Willow, he is another Pacer expert.
http://trimmeraviation.com/

I have a coworker who just purchased a Pacer with (I think) a O-320. He had the guy in Willow do the prebuy and did some dual with Don Lee. Seems he did good

Hope to ride with him soon.

Here is a little video of my latest Alaska adventure in a Pacer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC_7tZj60F4

Those are some great Pacer photos and links. I used to fly a PA-16 Clipper, which was the father of the Pacer, but with an 0-235, and even it was an amazing performer, especially with one or two on board and a light fuel load. Anyway, I always thought I'd upgrade to a Pacer someday, but ended up with a Maule, which many refer to as a Pacer on steroids.

I had a PA 16 Clipper too. I loved that plane. Once in a while you see one with an 0320.

I owned a PA 22 for about 10 years and flew it all over Idaho every summer. Had the O 320 /150 but I put in 160 pistons at overhaul. Had the prop twisted down to 53. Damn thing got off the ground before the first outhouse at JC with me and all my camping gear,about 150 lbs in the back. Had the aux tank , which is an additional 8 gallons. Went into most of the strips in Idaho with no problem.. Didn't do the really marginal ones like Dewey Moore and Mile high though.. I figured they were more than the plane could handle... but I would bet a good pacer could do them and probably has... I just was pretty conservative with the nose wheel on the rougher strips...a lot of airplane for the bucks you pay....I just wanted more horsepower, so I now have the M4 210... Flies the same pretty much but the added horsepower is a real plus...

Interesting to look at the Pacer and the M4 Maule together. You can see where BD was coming from.

TD