I am interested in looking at a Lance. Would you folks that have been flying them provide some data on their performance? Here are my questions, any other comments will be appreciated.
1. What is the fuel burn at 75% and 65% power, turbo and non-turbo.
2. What are the maintenance costs for turbo and non-turbo.
3. What useful load can I expect? Most of my stage lengths are long, 600/750 km.
4.Are there any insurance issues I should be on the look out for. I have over 2,500 total time in mel and sel with inst. Almost all of my time is in retract.
5.Leakage issues. In every low wing airplane I have owned the darn door always leaked.
I've only had mine ('76 straight tail) for a couple of months, but have taken it to the Bahamas and all around Florida. Heading up to NC soon. We have an EDM800, Garmin 530 and some other bells and whistles and are able to get pretty good data.
We also have 3-blade prop, K2U wingtips and Lopresti gap seals, so I'm not sure of their effect.
I did the North, East, South and West speed runs and found our average ground speed was 151 kts at 7500-8500' and 65% power. Fuel burn seems to be 15.5 - 16 gph depending on altitude. I haven't run it past 65%. Useful load is 1385 after recent paint and interior.
I absolutely love the plane so far, having stepped down from a Comanche 250 to a Cherokee 180 and back up to the Lance.
Hi,
I think the Lance is one of the best pipers..AS you probably know they went to the t-tail in 1978 after 68 low tail models..I have one that has a 1430 lb useful load..that means that afer full fuel you still can carry 150 lbs per seat (6 club seats)..Now that is pretty impressive..thought after more than 25yrs selling aircraft I knew everything, came to find out that in the certification of the Lance's Piper acquired anohter 100 lbs Gross weight..I never knew that..So my Lances carry more than my cherokee 6's..now after all that blather to answer your questions..
1. 65% power fuel burn is 13.8 gls/hr (fact numbers) I think more like 14.5..this is only on non turbo's..if you like flying and don't own a bank stay away from the turbos..they are about 18 gls/hr..and a ton more maintenance
2. Guess I just answered that..probably just irritated some turbo owners..but back in '78 (1st turbo model) they had extreme heat problems..so much so that the top of the cowlings fiberglass bubbled from the heat...Pipers fix was to put 'louvers' in exactly where the bubbling occured..just research turbos..most likely all with any engine time also include "?? hrs STOH, (since top overhaul or new cylinders) ..they never go to TBO without a lot of cylinder work..
3. Insurance should run 3-4% since you have an IFR rating..
4. Leakage..always a possiblity where you have a door..just a matter of maintaining the seals..having said that the forward baggage area acts as a good sound suppressor!!
