Grumman Traveler

[Murdoughnut]

Anyone have experience with it? I'm at a crossroads in my flying. I joined a club with higher performance aircraft to be able to take longer trips with my family, but have run into a few problems that are leading me to believe I'd be better off financially and otherwise buying a cheap two-seater, putting work into the panel, and just using it for short hops around NC and for fun.

With GA planes so massively inflated right now, I've seen a few AA1Bs for $25K-$30K. Anyone owned or flown one before? How are they? Just curious - seem more sporty than a 150, and I have a preference for certified planes when possible.

 

[Richman]

Older, slower version of the Tiger. They’re ok up to and including a small spouse, a young child and maybe a small duffle bag.

Anything more or on hot day, it will probably run out of steam.

 

[denverpilot]

Agree. Haven’t owned one but the few folks I’ve met who do like them for a little cruising around as long as weight is watched.

More than 80% of that admittedly small sample also seem to do a panel upgrade of some sort for enjoyment purposes — since the original avionics leave something to be desired. Perhaps something to watch for when shopping.

 

[Richman]

Agree. Haven’t owned one but the few folks I’ve met who do like them for a little cruising around as long as weight is watched.

More than 80% of that admittedly small sample also seem to do a panel upgrade of some sort for enjoyment purposes — since the original avionics leave something to be desired. Perhaps something to watch for when shopping.

I’ve found that non-airline folk seem to be hardwired to glass. There are some serious bargains out there if you’re ok with steam gauges.

 

[denverpilot]

I’ve found that non-airline folk seem to be hardwired to glass. There are some serious bargains out there if you’re ok with steam gauges.

T’is true! I don’t mind either. I don’t like stuff so old that it’s constantly breaking though.

Which is why a few years ago we rearranged things in the 182 panel and added a G650 and one of them there fancy new ADS-Beeeee transponders.

And the airplane had an upgrade from the original Cessna ARC clunkers to King in the 90s before we owned it. So the King stuff got to stay. It still works well.

The Grummans I’ve seen seem to be wildly old or wildly new. Never see stuff like that King upgrade somewhere “mid-lifespan” of the panel.

Probably somewhat an indication of the low volume of their types. People either wanted a personal traveler and upgrade quite a bit, or they wanted an economical putting around airplane.

That’s my cockamamie theory with no real proof, anyway. Ha. [emoji23]

 

[Murdoughnut]

Honestly, if I were doing a glass upgrade, I'd put an iPad in the panel and get an ADS-B transponder with Wi-Fi to send traffic/weather/position data to it. We have the L3 transponder in our SR-20 that does it and it's nice. Cheaper route is using Stratus of course. But I think the iPad with Foreflight makes for a great cheap MFD.

 

[denverpilot]

Honestly, if I were doing a glass upgrade, I'd put an iPad in the panel and get an ADS-B transponder with Wi-Fi to send traffic/weather/position data to it. We have the L3 transponder in our SR-20 that does it and it's nice. Cheaper route is using Stratus of course. But I think the iPad with Foreflight makes for a great cheap MFD.

Agree that’s a nice setup. We did the Garmin to make it IFR capable really... if not going for that the various tablet gadgetry is great. We usually have the tablet in a Ram Mount to augment the certified stuff.

 

[killbilly]

Anyone have experience with it? I'm at a crossroads in my flying. I joined a club with higher performance aircraft to be able to take longer trips with my family, but have run into a few problems that are leading me to believe I'd be better off financially and otherwise buying a cheap two-seater, putting work into the panel, and just using it for short hops around NC and for fun.

With GA planes so massively inflated right now, I've seen a few AA1Bs for $25K-$30K. Anyone owned or flown one before? How are they? Just curious - seem more sporty than a 150, and I have a preference for certified planes when possible.

The earlier AA series are nice handling little airplanes, but they're short-ranged and underpowered. Great training airplanes. If you want to actually go places in one, you really do need to look hard at a Grumman Tiger or a Grumman Cheetah. Slightly different tail, larger tanks, usually bigger motor.

If you're good with a 2-seater and cost-conscious, the experimental market might be for you. The more research I did, the more I was convinced that it was the right thing for me. I love the RV6A I bought, and the value has been tremendous. You can find decent examples for <$70K right now if you look hard enough; the market has been 2 degrees short of irrationally insane, lately, but the -6s are less desirable than the 7s, so that's where the bargains are.

"Putting the work in the panel" - this is where experimentals kick the crap out of certified. Costs are 1/2 for avionics.

 

[Richman]

The Grummans I’ve seen seem to be wildly old or wildly new. Never see stuff like that King upgrade somewhere “mid-lifespan” of the panel.

Probably somewhat an indication of the low volume of their types. People either wanted a personal traveler and upgrade quite a bit, or they wanted an economical putting

This is a phenomenon that I first noticed when I was looking at Twin Comanches. About 10% were highly modified, updated, cherry birds (with a high price), about 10% were ok, solid birds, and the balance were train wrecks.

As we move forward, more models fall into that paradigm, and the percentage of “ok, solid birds” gets much smaller, so you wind up with very few planes at reasonable price, with the balance decomposing on the ramp.