Damn, The Archer ain't ever going to be good enough again!

Was in the Bay Area near San Fransciso last week and called an old friend to
see if he wanted to go flying. Great, he says, meet me at my office at 4:00
PM and we'll go up. It's an absolutely beautiful afternoon. Cloudless sky,
little haze, no wind, and green everywhere (it's the two weeks after the
rainy season before everything turns brown again). First decision we have
to make is which airplane to take, the Decathlon or the Bonanza (two
partners, two airplanes - makes perfect sense to me!). Not enough fuel in
the Decathelon for more than an hour flight, so the Bonanza it is. We open
up the T-hangar at Oakland and there is the most beautiful '96 A-36 I've
ever seen. Immaculate! Tip tanks, and basically everything you can put in
a Bo. TWO IFR GPS's, Garmin 530 with TACAS and a 430 as Comm 2. Electric
AI, altimeter, airspeed indicator and slaved HSI for the right seat. This
in addition to two vacuum pumps. Talk about belt and braces. We started up
and it was like a fine car. Nothing shook, rattled, or vibrated like every
other piston single I've ever been in. After we got out of Oakland
airspace, Bruce handed off to me and I flew for most of the rest of the
afternoon. Past Mt. Diablo, out over the delta, up the river over the
mothball fleet, and then out to Point Reyes. The hills were verdant green,
and the air was smooth as glass. IIRC, 160 kt true at 23.5 square. I
circled Point Reyes lighthhouse, and tried some steep turns, "dutch rolls"
and just reveled in the great handling. Was able to nail the dutch rolls
with no more than 1/4" of rudder deflection. This is a "feet on the floor"
airplane for cruising. Returning to the Bay, we decended to 2000' over the
Golden Gate, flew directly over Alcatraz, and Bruce told me to line up with
the "Mormon Temple" in Oakland. Great view of San Francisco. Because SFO
is so far to the south, the floor of the Class Bravo is 3000-6000 feet over
the bay. Great place for VFR sightseeing, although there is quite a bit of
traffic. That's where the TACAS really helps. Bruce took the plane back
once we got to the temple, and we returned to Oakland. After we put it back
in the T-hangar, he spend fifteen minutes with a rag and a can of Pledge and
cleaned off all the bugs. We do that once a year on the Archer. This is
the difference between having a really nice airplane that's hangared, and a
beat-up old plane that's kept outside, I guess. Can't blame him one bit.

I like it. I want one, except for the $$$. Bruce was really impressed that
my partners and I charge ourselves only $43 per hour, wet, for the Archer.
He's never worked out what their hourly cost is. There are some things you
just don't want to know. Still, it's a great airplane.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)