I've heard this, too, to not take the book performance seriously, and
I don't think I agree with it -- at least not for the reasons given:
old airplane. The reason to not take the book performance seriously in
my mind is:

- professional test pilot
- nickless prop
- ISA day
- test aircraft did not have all the accumulated detritus in the back
that probably should be in the weight and balance since you never,
ever take it out of the airplane.

That said, my experience with the PA28-180 this past weekend was that
the plane did in fact fly as the book predicted. If I had a pucker
moment on my flight it was because I had the poor judgment to make a
flight that required the plane to perform as specified by the poh
*AND* I left no room for external factors, such as gusts and
downdrafts upwind of the runway.

Also, though I understand the poster who said that a Cherokee-180
simply is not a 4-place aircraft, I don't quite agree with it. The
aircraft is what it is. It has a useful load of nearly a thousand lbs.
Those pounds could be a lot of fuel, and one or two big people, or a
little fuel and three big people, or four little people, or whatever
combination you like. But to categorically write off capabilities of
the machine because it's easier to plan/accept/think about/trust,
unfairly diminishes the utility of the airplane.

If I had waited to fly back from Bishop in the early morning when
there was no weather and the air was cool, I am positive that I could
say honestly that the flight would have been perfectly safe, with all
four people, and our gear, and our fuel, all in an old rental
Cherokee-180.

Of course, my club just got a 182 on the line that I want to get
checked out in. Faster, more carrying capacity, better climb
performance, better views -- it'd be a much better mount for future
trips.


-- dave j
-- jacobowitz73 -at- yahoo -dot- com

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message ...
Mark wrote:

I'm Curious about something. Everyone says that a 30-year-old
airplane will not perform like when it was a new airplane.

Not everyone says this. My 25-year-old Cessna 150 met the book performance figures.