Fastest Archer in the World?

tshugart3tshugart3
edited November 14 in General Discussion

On my recent flights, all of a sudden I've noticed airspeeds a good 5 knots faster than I'm used to for my typical power settings. For example, this image shows the panel in flight yesterday - at 75% power, 7K feet I was getting about 133 true. I've checked the ASI and G5 vs GPS on a 3-leg run before, and the ASI when calibrated with the dial is right on the money, while the G5 TAS is 2-3 kts fast. I also checked my tach against a digital tach on my phone, the mechanical tach is about 80 rpm slow, so this was actually around 2600 rpm. This was with me solo on board with about 35 gal in the tanks and probably 30 lbs of baggage. The plane is a 1980 PA-28-181, with the bigger wheel pants and cruise prop that the later Archer IIs have. No speed mods.

I recently got the plane polished and ceramic-coated (the once-every-6-months stuff, not a "real" ceramic coating) and I think it's since then that I've seen this extra speed - so much that I checked multiple times (engine charts, rpm, etc.) to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.

Anyway, just thought I'd put this out there for fun, and see if I'm missing anything here, because it's so fast it makes me nervous (and it's hard to stay out of the yellow arc if I'm not paying attention). 🤣


IMG_3778.jpeg


Comments

  • planewrenchplanewrench

    High t. Well it's certainly is possible that the polishing has had an effect on drag reduction. You certainly seem to have checked all the possible cross checks so enjoy the new found speed lol. Carl

    48 yrs A/P IA DAL aircraft inspector. 172N

  • N56404N56404
    3B2A1A64-E37D-4B12-BE16-E589836C0EE5.jpeg

    1973 Challenger (aka...Archer I) I think I was about 2450 on RPM on this flight.

  • empanninempannin

    Hi,

    More fuel in the right tank and the ball is a little left of center in the G5 and turn coordinator. Any trim/rigging changes? how even is left/right flap and ailerons?

    Any removal of cowlings and wheel pants? Maybe when re-installed they are "perfect!"

    Eric Panning
    1981 Seneca III
    Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)

  • jolexajolexa
    edited November 20

    Hello fellow Archer owners, I love this plane, too!

    Savvy has data on "23282 flights by a cohort of 144 aircraft" [which I assume is PA-28-181 and -180's, but I should ask them]

    Every so often, they send a report card. Here is my last one regarding speed, I thought it might be of interest to this thread.

    image.png

    ...where the 75th percentile of the cohort is 122 KTAS, etc. The middle dot of 125k is the median TAS for me, 132 the max, etc.

    Jeremy Olexa, N2471U 1979 PA28-181 Archer II. Minneapolis, MN (KMIC)

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