I just contracted a fresh annual on it from an independent A/I (Gordon Davis if anyone knows him) and it came out clean. 8 hours on the engine with the boar scope of the cylinders showing proper break in so far. It looks great from pictures and has the mods that I wanted. The title is clean and the accident/repair record is as advertised. It is a univair converted 1960 PA-22/20. Flying out Wed. It will be my first aircraft if I buy it, so I am stressed about all the details and logistics. Wish me luck.

LWIB, congrats to you and the new edition. Happy flying.

Ken in Alaska

LWIB,
When will you be out on Wed. Where are you flying into. I am based at WHP, Whiteman, about 3nm from Burbank and do lunch runs to Tehachapi every couple months. If you need any local help drop me a note.

Dave

Meanwhile, back at the 'Ranch'........

I also find that the eraser end of a pencil works much better on the touch screen than your finger.

Erasers are mildly abrasive.....
Could long term use adversely affect the screen?
Or is it only used on the edge where it doesn't matter??
Just questions.
(I'm ready to use a hammer on my fishfinder....... )

lc

LWIB,
What kind of mods does this pacer have? I am just interested, because mine is fairly stock other than the univair taildragger conversion and a 3200 tailwheel. When it comes time to overhaul the engine, my dad and i are looking into the o-360 180hp univair stc and possibly vg's.

Dave, thanks for the offer and I will ask if I need help. Is there still much weather from the tropical storm?

Kevin, this Pacer has Stewart Tips and VGs and several other minor mods. Doesn't have the aux tank that might come in handy with only 36 Gal of fuel...

To update on the 560, I guess the crew at Sporty's started the long weekend early because my overnight delivery ended up being (as of now) a five night delivery and I won't have the unit for the first part of my trip. One of my primary students wants to meet me in Phoenix and fly back with me from there to get his cross country requirements out of the way...he will bring the 560 with him when he flies out on Friday. I guess my out of date Lowrance and the VORs in the plane will have to do. I got my instrument rating before I ever flew with GPS, so I guess I can remember how to do it...

Sitting at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix waiting for my connecting flight back to Austin. Didn't buy the Pacer. Pretty bummed out about not having an airplane...but I guess it is better than having one I don't want. This airplane shopping is expensive shit. I'm going to take a break for awhile.

I'll post again on how the 560 works out when I get a chance to fly with it.

littlewheelinback wrote:Didn't buy the Pacer. Pretty bummed out about not having an airplane...but I guess it is better than having one I don't want. This airplane shopping is expensive shit. I'm going to take a break for awhile.

Bummer. Mind sharing why? I bummed about selling my Stinson and wanting to replace it with another plane soon, but I'm still trying to sort out what I want to buy next. Pacer is on the short list.

I didn't like the control harmony. It had a really nice engine with 8 hours on it and the pre-buy inspection came out fine, but the plane just had an unsatisfying feel to it. The only other Pacer I've flown was a tri-pacer and it felt pretty good. This one had VGs and Stewart tips. At slow speed the roll seemed lazy to me, maybe that is from the mods, but other folks with the mods don't seem to complain. It was also pretty slow for a Pacer...maybe a rigging problem. The seller seemed like a pretty honest guy. I just didn't have a good feeling for it.

You did the right thing, if it dose not feel right then its not. There are a lot of planes out there , shop around for something that fits your likings and suits your needs. One can always add mods to make a good plane even better. When we rush into something that's when things go wrong or it cost a lot to undo what has been done..
You will find something to your liking...

Ken in Alaska

Thanks Ken....It was hard to walk away after investing so much $ and energy into it. My pilot mentor, the late, great Chuck White told me never to fall in love with an airplane until after you own it. I might have been able to grow fond of this aircraft, sometimes I do grow to like one after a while, but I just couldn't risk it.

Thanks for your reply. My first plane was a wreck. I'm shooting for my next one to be at least flyable. I'm still looking at Pacers, 170s, Stinsons...and maybe 182s.