Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer

I currently own a Piper Colt PA-22 108 VH-PIN here is Australia it has 1400 hours genuine and is my pride and joy. These little planes do keep you sharp as rudder is a major part of the attention span. Interestingly we have 6 within 30 miles.

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Being a Brit I learned to fly in a British Auster. These were Taylorcraft derivatives built in the UK under licence. After that I flew the deHavilland Chipmunk. Then the club bought a PA-28 (108hp) Colt. Very quiet engine compared to the Gypsey Majors that powered the first two.
Question: Where were the flaps inside the Tri-Pacer, and were they manual or electric. There were non on the Colt.

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My first plane, circa 1955, was a Piper TriPacer, the one with the smaller engine. It had seats of four, but the fourth passenger overloaded the plane. Nevertheless, I used it almost weekly between Louisville and Knoxville, and it saved me a lot of time. I even flew it to Florida once or twice, I finally sold it and purchased a Cenna 182.

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The tri-pacer is a nice 2 place airplane. When you have full tanks, luggage and 2 normal size people, thats all you want to carry. The hand brake on the one we had was barely adequate. But it was a hot little plane and if you are careful and watch your gross weight and air density, it's safe.

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I am currently enjoying ownership of a 1958 PA22-160, N9410D. It was metalized in 1970 by Skycraft Design in Trenton, NJ, adding 70lbs to the empty weight. The Crosswind wingtips have also been incorporated, and have improved the sink-rate. A joy to fly, and burning 8.5 gal /hr, it is a stable, rugged, economical, and a fun to own aircraft that I can safely recommend. A flying restoration should be realized by anyone interested in any aircraft of this vintage. Assisting with some the maintenance will go a long way toward pride of ownership, and help to earn your respect towards this fine aircraft. In this day of plastic and glass, it is amazing the compliments I receive! See you in Lockhaven...

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I co-owned two of these in the 60's. The first one was a (N680A) was a 1951 model with the 0290 Lyc. The last one (N6020D) was a 1957 with the 0320. This one had the extended range fuel option. I thought they were a good airplane for the day. You had to really be careful turning downwind on the ground in windy conditions to avoid getting them on their back.

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I owned a Colt back in the 70's. Piper 5096Z; paid $2500 for it and at the end of 8 years and 350 hours sold it for $2500. Took a friend up one evening for a ride; he'd been a radio operator in a B17 during WWII flying out of England. On final I sensed he was tight; so I tried extra hard and made a beautiful landing. As we pulled off the runway, he let out a sigh of relief saying: "I never thought you would get it down. This thing has got a greater sink rate than a fully loaded B-17." With those stubby, short little wings, when you chopped the throttle, she came down -- NOW! It was a great little plane; I had a lot of fun with her.

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In 1971 I learned on a Colt, PA 22-108 - 108 hp. Underpowered with no flaps, a great trainer, it made you pay attention to staying ahead of the power curve. It was a good experience for stepping up to the Tri-Pacer, PA 22-150 - 150 hp which was nearly 40% more horsepower and only 25% more gross wt. Once you learn to fly a PA-22 your transition time to something like a C-172 is just an hour or two, but transitioning the other way is a many more hours. Guess this makes the PA-22 aircraft a good learning platform. Large number of PA-22s, and other Pipers gather each year for Sentimental Journey which takes place in June at Lock Haven,PA where the Tri-Pacers and Colts were built.

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We had a Tripacer in the SAC Aero Club at Mildenhall England in the late 1950's /early 1960's....My English wife, Pauline, was the Treasurer until Uncle Sam dictated no foreigners could hold office...I took over, but to be honest, she still did most of the work..lol....Can't find my log book so don't know the registration number etc..Fond memories though as it was the first plane I flew...

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I learned to fly a 1956 Tri-Pacer (flying milk stool) shortly after earning my private certificate. As I remember it, the Tri-Pacer had about the same performance characteristics as the Cessna Sky Hawk, but dropped like a rock with power off /idle! This aircraft remains among my most cherished aviation experiences. The last I heard of this plane it was located in southern Arizona.......N9322D

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My first solo flight was in a PA22-108 Colt N5111Z at the Williamson-Sodus (NY) airport in August 1972. Our Williamson Flying Club had three of those beauties; we paid $7.50 /hr "wet" for the Colts and $7.00 /hr for the instructor. One of the Colts had over 8000 hrs TTAE and still flew great. I still have an owner's manual(courtesy of Xerox)somewhere.

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I LEARNED HOW TO FLY IN A PA-22 IN JULY 1967. AT THAT TIME I WAS IN THE AIR FORCE AT TRAVIS A.F.B..I FLEW OFF BASE AT A PRIVATE AIR FIELD (VACA VILLE). IT WAS A WONDER FULL TIME FOR ME AS I WAS A INSTRUMENT TECK IN THE SERVICE, I FELT THIS PLANE WAS A EXELLENT TRAINING TOOL & EASY TO FLY.

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To answer Schaper, "interconnected aileron and rudder pedal control system" was merely a spring to coax the rudders in the coordinated direction. To cross-control you only had to overpower the spring by pushing harder on the rudder. Disclaimer: If memory serves correctly, has been 25 yrs since I flew the 1953 model.

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The first tri-pacer PA-22-1 is still flying in canada and this summer did a cross canada flight and back to the west
Peter Irwin is the owner

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Not a comment but a question
Does anyone of you know if i may uncoordinate the coordinated wings? i just bought a tripacer from Belgium, the oo-dlh, she will be registerd as D-EDCH

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I agree with Van Tries.
My first solo, March 27 1965, was in the "Colt" as discribed by Van Tries.
N4696Z PA-22-108.

I also flew another "Colt" N5806Z.

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A nice snappy airplane; I enjoyed the short time I flew one. An interesting characteristic was that the nose tire was the same as the two main tires.

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I believe the caribbean you mention is really the piper colt. A tri pacer with the back seat taken out, one wing tank and a 108 lycoming. This was not a sales success !!! The caribbean is a trim package, one level below a super custom trim. More sales fluff that did not work. About 1960 cessna made many improvments to already good planes. We did not !

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the 1951 tripacer started with a 0-290d, 125 hp and not the 0320 as mentioned.

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