Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Airplanes Only 1961 Comanche 250

Gene,

Well, the Comanche series seems to have something for everyone - from the 180 that sips fuel at moderate speed through the 400 which goes like crazy and you can watch the fuel gauges drop.

Warmest regards,
Rick

From the Aviation Consumer:

Meanwhile, the ultimate in wretched excess, or perfection, depending on your point of view, has to go to the Comanche 400. It was introduced in 1964 and discontinued only a year and 146 airplanes later. This beast had a normally aspirated, fuel- injected, eight-cylinder Lycoming IO-720-A1A fitted with a three-bladed prop. The airframe is essentially identical to the 250, except the 400 uses the Aztec stabilizer.

The engine gulps huge amounts of fuel (20 to 22 GPH at 75 percent cruise, held in optional 130-gallon tanks), has a TBO of 1800 hours and costs north of 50 grand to overhaul. On the other hand, the 400 offers spectacular performance—at least for 1964—with max cruise in the 185-to-195-knot range.

Sounds like the "Ultimate Behemoth" LOL Looks like it would give a Cessna 310 a run for it's money. I'd bet a power-on stall would be interesting.

It climbs like a homesick angel on steroids.

Drool... [planeandpilotmag.com]

And that's gross weight. Imagine what it could do 700-800 pounds lighter.

Poobs,

What's scary is that I suspect you met a homesick angel on steroids once and she demonstrated how fast she could get away from you.

You've got to work on your pick up lines.

Warmest regards,
Rick

That's exactly how I found out how fast and far a homesick angel con go!

I talked to the owner today about the price of the Comanche. He is at $20K. Just passing on information.

When I was look for a replacement for my first 182 I had an encounter with a 400 Comanche. A guy up in Planview, TX had one for sale and was ready and anxious to give me the sepal and a test flight. I had some Comanche time and the 400 seemed like a great idea (I have been a hot-rodder most of my life).

So, away I flew to Planeview. I got the sales pitch, did a pretty through ramp inspection and announced that I was ready to see how the beast flew; this was in 1999 so some of my memories may be a bit fuzzy.
Here us what I do recall.
It accelerated to flying speed in short order.
The attitude at best rate of climb speed was uncomfortably nose high.
The elevator force was very heavy.
We reached 12,000 feet very quickly.
TAS at cruise was around 210 MPH with a fuel burn of around 20 GPH; a little over 10 MPG.
In climb and cruise the cabin noise was very loud.
Aileron force was just about right.
Rudder force was just a bit on the heavy side.
Elevator force was heavy; about like a T206.
Bringing the power back to idle produced a sink rate that was similar to an anvil. The owner/check pilot quipped that in the event of a power failure you need to dive for the nearest field Behind you.
On return to the field I made a very hard landing. The sucker just quit flying when I started the final flare, even though I was carrying a bit of extra speed in anticipation of a high stall speed with full flaps.

Given the obvious cost of the care and feeding of the 400 HP piper I kept looking and finally came up with a 10 year newer T210 for a bit less money. I happily flew the 210 for over 20 years.

I like my 150. Suits me just fine. However.... as the Vietnamese have a saying.... "there is a pot for every lid". Hung don't give me any grief, a Vietnamese Priest told us that when we were learning about marriage preparation. LOL