| | | Jared_Chursinoff Unregistered | | Jared_Chursinoff Unregistered | I agree David, but I flew Cessna's all my life, (150-152 172 180 and 185) and when I got the tripace everone said its a rock, so evertime I approched the runway I was comming in high, finally said Im going to approch like a cessna and everything from there on in was good. I find Ppower off glide not to be as bad. But again its everyone to there own. I still perfer the 172, with 2 doors more room, not so short coupled. But thats me. I still like the tripacer I have, but I feel a 172 is just better overall plane. | | | | | Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 11,702 Likes: 1076 Member/10,000+ posts! | | Member/10,000+ posts! Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 11,702 Likes: 1076 | I'm building a replica of the Vagabond (Wagareo plans). How it came to be is quite a story. The Piper firm took bandruptcy. Their bank sent a guy to the factory who moved into old man Piper's office, though the Piper family stayed on. The bank guy knew nothing about airplanes. He was taken around the factory and told about this & that pile of Cub parts.
"I want a plane with side by side seating that uses up all these damned parts. Thirty days." he said. Two Piper sons set about designing the Vag and had it done in about 30 days. The ailerons use about 2/3's of the wing because the Vag/Clipper wing is shorter than the Cub. The Vag P 15, then the Clipper P 16, then the improved Vag P 17, saved the company.
A few years ago there was a story in the Short Wing Piper Mag by a retired guy about his round trip from the States to Alaska. He and another old buddy loaded up a P 15 (little Franklin 60 HP), including camping gear. "Worked great, had a great time," I remember he wrote.
The P 17 adding duel controls and shock struts. But, people have commented that the P 15 w/o the shocks works just fine. The guy was William Shriver of Manufacturer's Trust of New York, which held Piper's loans. Piper wasn't in bankruptcy, but was close and the bank stepped in with a severe austerity program in the form of Mr. Shriver. All the stories are probably true - including the one about not spending the money to put the black stripe on the Vagabond. Best regards, Rick | | | | | Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 13,969 Member/10,000+ posts! | | Member/10,000+ posts! Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 13,969 | I was always curious why Piper never produced a long winged Tripacer? I would think putting a Cub wing on the Tripacer would make a great airplane?
Bill
Grants Pass, Oregon | | | | | Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 11,702 Likes: 1076 Member/10,000+ posts! | | Member/10,000+ posts! Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 11,702 Likes: 1076 | Bill,
One thought is that because it was a high lift, high drag wing it would have slowed the cruise speed rather dramatically. With the short wing it still has excellent short field and climb performance.
Best regards,
Rick | | | | | Joined: Mar 2009 Posts: 276 Member/250+posts | | Member/250+posts Joined: Mar 2009 Posts: 276 | Yesterday I took a trip down to Smith Mountain Lake (W91)and stopped for fuel at New London Airport (W90) in Forest, VA (just south of Lynchburg) on the way back. It's a quaint old field that has at least 5 Piper Tri-pacers there, as well as several C-150s.
BTW, the gas there is on the honor system. You pump it, figure out how much you owe, go inside to fill out a log sheet, and then place your cash or check in a lock box (no credit cards accepted). They had 100LL at $4.65 and MOGAS at $3.18.
Charlie
N30713
1970 C-177B
Based at W32 (Washington Executive Hyde Field, MD)
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