Stacey, yeah they need more runway but I've had no problems with 4000ft strips. Grummans are great cruisers, not so much great climbers. If you're operating out of a short strip at high altitude... yikes! I flew the Cheetah to New Mexico and back last week and at 5200ft ground elevation at the airport, leaned for altitude, I was seeing 300fpm... Now in cruise though, 123kts TAS!
Parts and maintenance on them are not bad, the club I'm a part of has 3 of them (2 Cheetahs and a Tiger) and hasn't had issues with either. They have a Lycoming O-320 in them, same as a 172, and not a lot of unusual maintenance. The biggest thing to know is that the cylinders run hot due to cowling/baffling issues. If you look at the air intakes on the cowling you can see how small they are compared to a 150 or 172. Top overhauls prior to major are common. Only other maintenance gotcha is the bonded wing structure, early 1975 models need to be inspected due to the "purple glue" incident. Models past that are fine. I think there is a hard-hour time on the bonded wings where once it hits that, they need major maintenance, but I believe it's like 17,000hrs AFTT, so usually not something you ever need to worry about.
Last edited by Alex_Montgomery; 11/30/17 05:15 PM.
