Page 28 - Jan22T

Owner’s
Corner
Search and Repo: “OMG!” by Peter Sloan, Owner-Pilot
Piper Cheyenne N770MG (“0MG”)
As we taxied out, I became con- scious of a grin on my face. I’d have to go back to junior year of high school to remember the last time I was this giddy about my “new” ride. The object of my affec- tion back then was a two-door 1967 Buick LeSabre passed down four times by older siblings. The white whale of a car arrived just in time for prom.
Today’s grin was of a similar vintage: a 1975 Piper Cheyenne that changed hands more times than the ol’ Buick. Under that hood was an oil- thirsty V8. Under these cowls were a pair of PT6’s freshly returned to service. Cheyenne trainer Bob Pinto and I were readying for take-off – the airplane’s first f light in nine years. Jet A is unavailable at N30,
26 • TWIN & TURBINE / January 2022
so Mike Lovelace of TML Aircraft dedicated 55-gallon drums and a pickup truck to the task. Two hundred seventy-five gallons of hand-pumped kerosene later, leaving N30 finally became possible.
We performed the pre-takeoff checklist with a cold, Pennsylvania winter breeze blowing right down the pike and 1,240 horses churning a pair of black, scimitar four-blades. The old car had been nicknamed “Moby Dick,” and it had soul. Would N770MG be the same? We were about to find out.
Patience & Reconnaissance
Forty-two years is a long time between grins. No offense to the Navajo or Twinco before “0MG,” but getting back to the flight levels and
out from under the avgas sword of Damocles became a priority. Okay, maybe an obsession. There may be another way to cruise 250 knots at FL250 with a useful load of 4,000 pounds for $350,000, but in 20 years of searching, I’ve yet to find it. For me, all roads led to the PA-31T. Finding the right one, ah, now there’s the rub.
Tracking Controller and Trade-a- Plane was a necessary discipline in scouring for value propositions, but if the numbers are right, they won’t stay on the market long. A fair number of airplanes change hands without ever making it to the listing stage. For me, checking the listings nightly gave a therapeutic outlet to my obsessing. It also helped cultivate an organic feel for the fleet, from typical times