Piper Arrow Vs. Cessna 172RG

[JetPilot500]

actually, I was not referring to the auto-drop.

I just mean in the event of a system malfunction, the Piper system is far more simple than the Cessna system.

I always thought the auto-drop was kinda stupid...and never really worked that great anyhow (when tested at altitude of course!).

Jetpilot500

 

[ILLINI]

JetPilot500-

Sorry I missunderstood your post. Yes the gravity freefall system on Pipers was one of my favorites too. I had to pump the gear down on the 172RG on a couple of occasions and found it rather cumbersome and difficult to operate... especially single pilot.

On the other hand, I had a gear pump failure in an Arrow in solid IMC. Very easy to just depress the hydraulic pressure release lever and let the gear gravity fall on its own.

I once heard of a pilot flying a C182RG wich has a similar gear system to that of the 172RG. The limit switch on the gear pump failed after he retracted the gear on T/O and the pump never shut off... just kept pumping pressure into the gear system. Eventually a hydraulic line broke and all pressure was lost. Without hydraulic pressure, the gear was just dangling back and the pilot was unable to manually hand pump the gear into the down and locked position and had to make a costly gear up landing. If this happened in an Arrow, or other Piper retract, the gear would just automatically free fall into the down and locked position, and the pilot could have made an uneventfull landing.

Unfortunately, the pilot of the C182RG could have stopped the situation once it had started. Not only can you hear the gear pump operating, but you can see it drawing a large electrical load. If you see and hear that the pump has not shut off in the normal amount of time, you should recognize the problem and pull the circuit breaker for the gear pump to shut it off and prevent the failure. As they say, hind sight is always 20/20. But I did make it a point to check the electrical load after takeoff after I heard this story... just to be sure.

 

[aero99]

Wasn't the Auto drop AD'd years back?

I remember an incident where a pilot had an engine out and wanted to land gear up. When he hit the correct speed/alt the gear dropped and he didn't make the airport. He sued Piper and won- so they made the change.

I think the switch referred to by Illini was part of the AD or change after the law suit.

 

[Pilotadjuster]

Arrows

The auto-extend system is not taken out or AD'd out in all Arrows. The Arrow II has a lockout feature which allows you to deactivate the system, which I did most of the time for my comm/cfi. However, had the pleasure to fly an Arrow I (180hp!) for my cfi ride, and the auto-extend cannot be locked out. Period. On a short/soft field, you have to hold the overide lever up after pulling the gear switch (taking that hand off the throttle about 50' agl--so much for a safety system). I'd definitely prefer a II or later, as it seemed you needed three hands to fly the I.

Much prefer Pipers over Cessnas; they seem more stable in turbulence annd more solid overall. Plus they look a lot more like the fighters I dreamed about flying when I was 12...

 

[Gman123]

Negative Ghostrider....

The 201 does not represent the horsepower on the Arrow. The 1 at the end simply singifies the tapered wing rather than the straight wing on the PA28R-200.

True, only the PA-28T with 210 Continentals qualify as HP.

 

[Gman123]

Negative Ghostrider....

The 201 does not represent the horsepower on the Arrow. The 1 at the end simply singifies the tapered wing rather than the straight wing on the PA28R-200.

True, only the PA-28T with 210 Continentals qualify as HP.

 

[belchfire]

Cessna 182 or 206...

And yes, the 177 Strutless Gutless was probably the worst waste of Alclad in the industry till Piper made the Traumashock!