Cherokee 6 questions

[msw]

Haven't flown a 260. Have 200+ hours in 300s. We typically climb at 25"/2500 and cruise at 24"/2400. Burns about 16 an hour in cruise, usually see 120-130 knots depending on weight........

Interesting. I've owned and been flying a PA32-300 for 20 years. I routinely get 145 kts at my typical cruising altitudes of between 6500 - 9500 feet, burning between 16-17 GPH depending on altitude. It was a fantastic airplane to carry everything on family trips, wife and kids, all the bags and crap, etc. When the kids were younger and started fighting in the back, I'd just climb up to 11,500 or 12,500 for a bit, starve their little brains of oxygen, and they'd take a nap. Then I'd descend before I'd take a nap too. Now that the kids are grown and gone, I've considered selling it and getting a Mooney (faster) but the wife won't part with the big cabin - on long trips, I take most of the back seats out, and make her a full size bed/berth from old sofa cushions and sleeping bags back there - so I guess I will just be doing 145 kts instead of 195 kts (I'd love to get a Mooney Bravo) for the foreseeable future!

 

[Roger Roger]

Interesting. I've owned and been flying a PA32-300 for 20 years. I routinely get 145 kts at my typical cruising altitudes of between 6500 - 9500 feet, burning between 16-17 GPH depending on altitude. It was a fantastic airplane to carry everything on family trips, wife and kids, all the bags and crap, etc. When the kids were younger and started fighting in the back, I'd just climb up to 11,500 or 12,500 for a bit, starve their little brains of oxygen, and they'd take a nap. Then I'd descend before I'd take a nap too. Now that the kids are grown and gone, I've considered selling it and getting a Mooney (faster) but the wife won't part with the big cabin - on long trips, I take most of the back seats out, and make her a full size bed/berth from old sofa cushions and sleeping bags back there - so I guess I will just be doing 145 kts instead of 195 kts (I'd love to get a Mooney Bravo) for the foreseeable future!

We are seldome above 4500 so I wonder if that has something to do with it. Also the fact that most of our airplanes are old and tweaked...and that we're usually loaded to the gills...
What kind of power settings are you running?

 

[msw]

We are seldome above 4500 so I wonder if that has something to do with it. Also the fact that most of our airplanes are old and tweaked...and that we're usually loaded to the gills...
What kind of power settings are you running?

I run 2400 RPM and 24" MAP down lower, then usually around 22" - 23" MAP in the 7500 - 8500 ft range, give or take a little. I might be getting the better speeds because it is the 300 HP Six, vs the 260.

 

[derg]

Just don't fly oversquare.


Sent from my TRS-80

 

[EIR]

Just don't fly oversquare.

Kittens will die.

 

[ppragman]

The PA32 doesn't really like more than a couple inches over square with low prop RPM - not that it can't be run "over square" but unless the prop RPM is up there - especially on the two bladed models - I never really felt like I had the "get up and go" that I had at 24"x2400, even if the flight manual said that I was generating the same HP. Most of the time I cruised around at 25"2400RPM and the engine seemed to run the smoothest there.