Turbo Lance II - First plane
Hey all,
I just bought a 78 Turbo Lance II - T-tail. I'm working on my PPL, and saw this beautiful aircraft abandoned at my airport. I had no choice but to rescue it. Pre-purchase inspection seemed good enough - I saw an opportunity, so I took it.
Currently going through annual to make it airworthy again. I'm waiting on an Airtex interior to come, though I'll miss the plush purple. Maybe getting it painted, and avionics TBD. I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions.
David
Comments
Wow. Kudos for the rescue. Have fun learning flying and restoring. Carl
50yrs A/P IA DAL A/C inspector. 172N Rotax IRMT 912/914
Wow, fantastic project! Ask away on the questions, there is a ton of knowledge here on the forum.
Keep us updated on your progress, and post pics!
Jim "Doc Griff" Griffin
PA28 - 161
Chicago area
Wow! Nice purple seats! What kind of engine it has?
Congratulations!
Talk about jumping-in the deep end though. Complex, high performance, and turbo for a starter plane will definitely put flying on the interesting side of the educational fire hose 😉
One thing to consider while doing all the airworthiness work is looking into something like a Merlin wastegate. This should eliminate risk of damage from overboost.
Congrats on the Lance II, it's a great bird. I've owned a Lance II for 8+years and enjoyed its performance. I agree with "jacobsja" that a Lance II started for PPL is drinking from a fire hose. I've 500 hrs in a PA28-235C before upgrading to a Lance II. There are negative reviews on the T-Tail for TO and landing. I've found once you get used to it, there isn't an issue. On things for airworthiness, I hope you get all the logs books from birth. Things I see as near-term issues: complete borescope of all cylinders looking for condition and valves; install Aspen Pros &/or G5s and remove vacuum system (single point of failure); Gami injectors & Iridium Plugs (your engine will like it); a good digital GPS; & an engine monitor. The Aspen will work with you Autopilot (Altimatic IIIC) if it is working properly, it will probably need refurbished. I removed mine due to reoccurring failures.
I've done the above and more over the years and more planned. I would like to install an inter-cooler to help performance. The last item is a new interior. The engine and electronics were the first items to consider (and the most expensive to repair/replace).
Finally, the insurance costs for a high performance, complex, turbo aircraft for a low time pilot will be expensive if you can get it. I got my already configured with digital GPS for instrument flying and my insurance dropped when I acquired my instrument cert.
Good luck, the Lance II is a great bird and I'm glad I have mine it's taken us to many places.
Roe
Thanks for the comments, all very helpful!
One question - I have cracking on my rudder so I bought a used one. I see so many different part numbers for the rudders and rudder skins regarding the AD. The one I bought has a support strip and rivets at the trailing edge. My understanding is that this is the most recent upgrade Piper made to correct the issue. Is that correct?
This picture is of the new part I bought. The cracking shown is only in the paint. The metal is ok. All other rudders I've seen have folded skin on the trailing edge. Anyone know the story?
YouTube answered my question. What a great video by Airframe Components! This orange rudder was the most recent design change by Piper to address cracking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF5jtn-ajyA
Glad you found that Dave I was going to recommend airframe components. They really are one-stop shop for flight controls especially for Piper aircraft. Thanks for the link, Carl
50yrs A/P IA DAL A/C inspector. 172N Rotax IRMT 912/914