Any Tri-pacer experience here?

[Mcstealth]

I have stumbled across an opportunity to get some time in one. Do not know which model or engine, yet, but will update when I learn. 

Any big uh-ohs  i should know of?

Thanks, David 

[Andy95W]

-Cheaper than a Cessna 172

-Faster than a 172

-More useful load than a 172

-Uglier than a 172

-Not quite as forgiving or easy to fly as a 172

-Very good airplane to learn to fly in, especially at the price

-If buying, make sure the fabric and steel structure are in good shape

[takair]

What Andy said.....and if it is anything like the Colt(2 seat version) it has the glide ratio of a brick.  Not a bad plane and no real bad habits, just not super aerodynamic.

[Hank]

1 hour ago, takair said:

What Andy said.....and if it is anything like the Colt(2 seat version) it has the glide ratio of a brick.  Not a bad plane and no real bad habits, just not super aerodynamic.

I was gonna say, "Glides like a sewer lid," but I think you covered that already.

Is it really faster than a 172?? Maybe it's so ugly the winds deviate around it? 

[Culver LFA]

One of the best bang for the buck airplanes made and Pacer/Tri-pacers have one of the best support groups I’ve ever seen.

Steve Pierce is a super guy and bends over backwards to support this community (he is the Clarence of short-winged Pipers). Spend some time on http://www.shortwingpipers.org

and you’ll soon be an expert.

[EricJ]

They're neat old airplanes.   Should be fun to fly.   Lots of pragmatic old tech on those.

 

[Shadrach]

I like them. They are much more attractive from inside. Power off sink rate is tremendous compared to a Mooney. The one I am familiar with would not fully stall. It would just mush towards the ground with control authority in all axes. Power on approaches were the norm. Everything else has been covered.

[INA201]

The tail dragger versions are not bad looking imop.

[KLudwick]

Echoing what many have already said, just be conscious of sink on final.  Flaps aren't super effective, but they do work.  @Shadrach is right that unless you do an aggressive power-on stall, the PA20/22s won't really stall.  Have fun with the airplane!  I have about 150 hours in the tailwheel version.  

[Niko182]

There is an SB that should be completed for corrosion on the steel frame. I love them. They are very cheap entry bush planes.

[1964-M20E]

I've flown the tail dragger model a couple of times.  Not a bad airplane.  Nice for fun slow flights.

[MB65E]

Awesome airplane! The 150/160hp one is great.  I have a few hundred hours in one. I’d rather fly it than any Cessna! True 4 seat airplane. I’d Love a pacer one day. I like the Top Secret starter button. Other than they look kinda silly, I’m not sure I could tell you a bad thing about one. 
The coaster brake takes some getting used to...
-Matt

[moosebreath]

I learned to fly in a Colt 50 years ago.  In my opinion almost any other airplane is better.

- Bricks do in fact glide further

- Sounds like an oil can while gliding, or falling forward in the case of a Colt / Tripacer

- Ailerons totally ineffective at low speed. A standard Colt demonstration is to slow the plane to just above stall and move the yoke stop to stop observing the wings do ... nothing

- Cabin is tight and visibility low compared to about anything else

- They look funny and were called “Flying Milk Stools” 50 years ago

- They are slow, really slow.

- An old 150/172 feels like a Bonanza by comparison.

There are a lot of people in Alaska who think short wing Pipers are great.  I could never understand why.  They are never talking about PA-22 though i.e. the Colt / TriPacer but the taildraggers.

I might just stop flying if a TriPacer was the only choice.

 

 

[BDPetersen]

What moosebreath said. Actually since my dad’s Stinson was not yet instrument equipped, I took my Private check ride in a PA-22 in 1962. Then a year or two later began instructing in the gaggle of them that made flying doable to the masses back then at the local airport. They did the job, just not with grace or elegance.

[Jerry 5TJ]

My first flight in a light airplane was in a TriPacer.  I thought it was wonderful.   But, I was 9 at the time and the ride was a birthday present for me.    

Aside:  I recall that my dad and I showed up at the little airport in N central Indiana, he talked briefly with the people there and off we went.  No checkout.  He was an active duty Marine pilot at the time but I doubt he had ever flown a TriPacer before.   He was flying the F8U out of El Toro in those days and perhaps that seemed similar enough.  Or perhaps the young CFI were afraid of him. 

[Rick M.]

my first plane was as a partner in a pa20 back in 2005. A joy to fly, she loved grass strips and wheel landings were very easy. She does sink like a brick as per above but a scosh of power right before the flare and she will grease it in. Not the most beautiful bird but I loved her the same. Had this made of her back in the day.. if too racy I’ll pull it down..

 

[Mcstealth]

3 hours ago, Rick M. said:

my first plane was as a partner in a pa20 back in 2005. A joy to fly, she loved grass strips and wheel landings were very easy. She does sink like a brick as per above but a scosh of power right before the flare and she will grease it in. Not the most beautiful bird but I loved her the same. Had this made of her back in the day.. if too racy I’ll pull it down..

 

I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way. 

[N201MKTurbo]

4 hours ago, Rick M. said:

my first plane was as a partner in a pa20 back in 2005. A joy to fly, she loved grass strips and wheel landings were very easy. She does sink like a brick as per above but a scosh of power right before the flare and she will grease it in. Not the most beautiful bird but I loved her the same. Had this made of her back in the day.. if too racy I’ll pull it down..

 

I showed this to my wife. She said it was HOT! 
 

I’m sure she was talking about the plane....

[Rick M.]

I’ve been arguing with the mrs. over that painting since 05. It hangs in my office. She says there’s only room for one redhead In her house and she’s it. I tell her “baby, that’s you from back in 95 when we met...” she gives me that look. so far it’s a stalemate..

[47U]

I got my private ticket in a TriPacer in the early ‘80s.  It had the Lyc O-320-150 (car gas STC), a hand brake, stab trim crank on the ceiling, and a bungee interconnect between the ailerons and rudder.  On a hard surface you could taxi using the control wheel with your feet flat on the floor.  Full flaps on downwind required two full turns on the trim wheel.  Sixty-degree steep turns, no problem.  Best landing I ever made was in that airplane, I was still a student.  It was at a friend’s 2000’ grass strip, early summer evening, calm winds.  The wheels touched the tips of the grass at the same instant the rate of descent stopped at the same instant the yoke hit the stop.  There was no perceptible touchdown.  The wheels simply started rolling and the wing stopped supporting the weight of the aircraft.  It was a great trainer.  N7452D is still registered.    

The ‘milk-stool’ landing gear isn’t a problem IF you pay attention to flight control positions taxiing around with any wind.  It was great for learning cross wind landings.  One summer afternoon, my instructor has me practicing landings in 10-15 kt gusty crosswinds on our 1/2 mile farm strip.  I’m fighting the wind all the way down short final, wild yoke and rudder gyrations, and finally get her plopped down on the runway, more or less in the center and pointed at the other end.  Instructor says, “Well, that wasn’t very good.  Let me show you how.”  So he does the next landing.  Wild yoke and rudder gyrations on short final and finally gets her plopped down the the ground.  He looks at me and says, “Well, I guess your’s wasn’t so bad after all.”  He was an ag pilot, flying a Pawnee, I think it was.