Hello from Cardiff in the UK

MarkMac2SAS

I've been flying for 5 years mainly in Piper PA28s, been lucky to fly in quite a few European countries and even managed to fly a Warrior from the UK to Russia with a few fuel stops in between. This is my own PA28, a 1980 Archer 181 which I had fully refurbished in 2019, looking forward to visiting Europe this summer.

empannin

Wow! Fantastic plane and panel! In 2003 I was on assignment to Oxford and flew out of Enstone and the Enstone flying club for fun (Diamond Elcipse). I had my first grass landing at Sandown on the Isle of Wight.

arrow76r

Me too! WOW!! What a beautiful paint job as well as interior!!

griff390

Wow! Beautiful airplane and panel!

pa28navigator

That is a beautiful looking PA28. What type of holder are you using for the iPad?

Did you fit a larger engine? I noticed you have the three bladed prop and RPM controller.

Thanks.

MarkMac2SAS

Thank you for the comments on the paint job and panel, many say I’m mad doing this to a 181 but for me the fun is flying and not how fast I fly. The iPad is fitted using a guardian iPad mini mount. I’ve tried a yoke mounted iPad but found it too distracting. The engine is a standard 181, again the electrically variable prop was a gamble but I do think it was worthwhile. It’s the only one in the UK with this prop and had to have it’s own STC.

empannin

Mark, do you see better than book climb and cruise speeds with the electric prop? Do you set pitch with it (climb/cruise settings) or does it hold rpm like a hydraulic prop?

MarkMac2SAS

I feel that this climbs faster than the previous 181 in which I flew but have not got any hard data to back that up, the cruise speed remains the same. It holds RPM just like a hydraulic prop. What I do notice is that with the blades being shorter and the lower RPM, max 2500 in the climb and 2400 in the cruise the plane is a lot quieter. Compared to the previous 181 there is a reduction in my average fuel consecution of just over 1.5 gph (5 litres). That maybe in part due to the fact I can set a specific MFP and RPM a instead of just running short of the red line all the time.

empannin

That is great! 5 liters/hr savings adds up - especially in Europe.

reyobs1950

Flying a personal plane to Russia is very interesting. Please tell - what was the paper work like to get into Russia, and even more important, - to get out. What $$ was involved? What was it like getting fuel? How were you treated by the Russian air traffic controllers? (could you understand them and them you?). I made many business trips to the UK when I was working, I do miss visiting the UK, Bob

MarkMac2SAS

We used a FBO in Moscow to sort all the paper work for landing in St Petersburg and they sorted us with a flight plan which to fly from Helsinki Finland to St Petersburg. The flight plan included very specific waypoints which we programmed into the GTN 650. Before crossing the Finish boarder we were handed to Russian Control, their first question was did we wish to use feet or metres for altitude, they were happy to work us in feet. We generally flew at 1500 feet which gave us a good view of a few SAM sites, nothing you can’t see on Google Earth. We had to report at each waypoint and our ETA to the next, they kept a close eye on our progress. The Russian controllers were all very helpful, think they were amused with 3 British Reg PA28’s flying in Russia. Arriving at St Petersburg was just like arriving g at any major airport and we were cleared for straight in approaches. The fun began after landing and parking in a very obscure part of the airfield, let’s say it took quite a few hours to get out of the place and even more hours the next day to get back to our planes. We didn’t require fuel but our FBO could have supplied it in 200 Lt drums for hand pumping. Next day we departed and flew to Estonia for refuelling, again we had to fly a very specific route with reporting points. We did ask if we could take a more direct route but the controller was polite in saying know. While on the found at St Petersburg we were all line up on a cross taxi way for departure with a long queue of 747s behind, they too must have been wondering what was going on. The cost of landing and FBO costs was £600 per plane. A lot of money for sure but worth paying just to get Russia in the log book. We also had to obtain Russian Visas which is a little torturous specially when you fill in the section, “how are you arriving” flying my own plane there!!! I had planned on flying to a small GA field south of Moscow last year but COVID stopped that, will give this year a miss and maybe try 2022.

empannin

Mark, that is an amazing story! This would be a great article for the Piper Owner magazine

reyobs1950

Mark, thanks for the detailed debrief. What an interesting adventure. Follow on questions, how good was the English language capability of the Russian controllers/FBO people? Did you have to do any bribing of Russians to make things happen? What was the Estonia visit like?

epowell

Where did you get the paint job done? Looks fab.Would like to do the same and I am based in the UK..

MarkMac2SAS

The Russian controllers and the FBO had perfect English which was very helpful as the police who came to visit us on the apron could could speak no English. There was no bribing required and while it took several hours to get back to our planes everything went to plane.

MarkMac2SAS

My paint job was done by the company who refurbished the plane and to be honest I would recommend them. Airtime are probably one of the best in the UK.

epowell

Will give them a ping. Thank you.