GrummanDude
Joined: 15 Jan 2006
Posts: 926
Location: Auburn, CA
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 Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:31 am Post subject: two-seater vs 4 seater |
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I have a customer with a 74 Traveler, with a Power Flow Exhaust System,
and he wants to sell it.
It has the same yellow glue that the later Grummans have, so, debonding
isn't as much as a issue as 75 and 76 Grummans.
This plane has roughly 1875 hours total time airframe and engine. This
plane really needs a good home.
That said: I've read all of the arguments about a two-seater with a
big engine. To me, they just don't compare well to a 4-seater.
A few years ago, I helped a friend of mine do some clean-up on his high
compression 74 Traveler and we squeezed 10 knots out of it. When he
sold it, it would true out (TAS) at 137 knots at 5500 feet. And his
useful load was over 900 pounds. With full fuel (38 gallons, 228 lbs),
himself (240, he's a big boy), his girlfriend (130), he can still
carry over 350lbs of stuff. At an economy cruise of 130 knots, he'd
burn just 7.5 to 8 gallons per hour. At 9 gallons per hour, he had a
range of 4 hours. The only reason he sold it (for $55,000 with average
interior, average avionics, and new paint) was the 75 Traveler I put a
Lycon prepped (i.e., high compression, ported and polished, and dynoed
at 188 hp at 2725 rpm) would true at 140 knots after clean-up and he
wanted something faster.
With the seats folded down, he could put a full sized ice chest in the
plane just behind the front seats. Th
en, he and his girlfriend would
put camping gear in the plane and fly somewhere to camp. They often
put bicycles in the plane and would fly to a new place and ride around
the town on their bikes. Try that in a two-seater.
Dollar for dollar, the Traveler is a better investment than any AA1x.
If you want a two-seater, take out the back seat, seat belts, and
shoulder harness and save another 30 lbs.
As for climb rate, it's all in the power to weight ratio. My friends
Traveler would climb at 1500 fpm with the Sensenich prop. I have a
customer in Chico with a high compression Cheetah (with standard range
tanks like the Traveler) and Sensenich prop and he climbs out at
1000-1500 fpm all the time. The Chico plane trues at 134 knots with
antennas hanging out all over.
Most people fill up every inch of panel space with crap they never look
at OR use. I know one Tiger owner with two IFR approved panel mounted
GPSs, Audio Panel, Transponder, Storm Scope, Traffic avoidance TIS,
separate fuel flow and engine analyzers (that use up two holes), ADF,
DME, and he still carries "THREE" portable GPSs; a Garmin 296 on the
windshield bow, a Garmin 496 on his yoke and a Garmin 396 on the other
yoke. He also carries a handheld radio with VOR just in case
everything else fails. AND HE FLIES ALONE!. AND HE RARELY FLIES MORE
THAN 30 MINUTES FROM HOME. He just likes gadgets.
Off the record, his
empty weight is 1693 pounds. My Tiger is 1423 lbs (if you can believe
the calculations). Even if the changes over the years were 100 lbs
wrong, it's still 170 lbs lighter than his.
The Traveler I mentioned at the start of this tirade is for sale for
$20,000. It needs TLC. The engine is nearly run out, the interior is
pretty plain, plastic is dry and cracked, and the avionics are old (I
forget exactly what it has). BUT, it's pretty straight. It's going to
be someone's project. In the end, you'll have a plane with a lot more
utility than you would if you invested in a two-seater.
Gary
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Gary
AuCountry Aviation
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