Rainbow Air, America

[OBK!]

Hi,

Hearing good reports about rainbow air, I have decided to take a look at their website. Their fleet looks very impressive. I plan on doing between 30 and 40hrs in one of their aircraft.

Does anyone have any experience in their Archer III or 172SP? I've never had the oppurtunity to touch a brand new aircraft before, and I can't see me flying one in the near future in the UK, so I am going to hire either one of these types. My original plan was 40hrs in a 172 skyhawk/Pa28-161 and I thought that would be better as all I am going for is cheap hour building but I have been told that the luxury of a new aircraft, new paint, and modern avionics is very nice and well worth the extra expense (or in my situation, reduced hours for same budget). Do you think my idea is justified? All I need is about 25hrs to bring me up to the level where I can start my CPL but do you think 40hrs instead of 40 would be better?

Also, how do I get about insurance? Rainbow Air offer it about $5/hr which works out at about £100 for my venture. Is this good or bad going?

Thanks in advance for any advice/comments.

obk

[englishal]

A3 / 172s are lovely aircraft, a joy to fly. Nice avionics, 2 axis coupled AP in the A3 which will pretty much take you down an ILS right to the tarmac. I prefer the A3 myself, although the C172's have nice leather seats [I'm a low wing man]. All are 180HP, the 172's are fuel injected.

You can buy 'monthly' or it might be 3 monthly aircraft insurance for around $70 if you plan on a lot of hours.

Cheers
EA:D

[OBK!]

hi englishal

cheers. sorry to go into specifics but could you specificy what the archer 3 had init? Also, call me mr ergonomic, but did rainbows A3 have them new yokes with electronic trim and A/P cut out switch? I can see myself having hours of fun with those!

cheers
obk

[drauk]

I've flown on of their 172SP aircraft for a few hours. I didn't pay any attention to the Archer - as far as I knew it wasn't new and I was very keen to fly the newest planes I could. I was only doing a limited number of hours so the cost per hour was less important to me.

The 172 is new relative to the 20+ year old aircraft most people fly most of the time, but it is a couple of years old and has done several hundred hours, so it doesn't smell like a new car or anything. The one I flew had a faulty "low fuel" warning sensor so the light flickered on or off. Unfortunately this didn't happen during my checkout, only during my first climb out from Long Beach, over the densely populated surrounds. Once I'd convinced myself that I knew the tanks were full I just ignored it.

As I recall the 172 had an AP disconnect on the yoke, but no electric trim. It was all BK avionics, including a 94 colour moving map GPS which I really like, certainly more than similar sized Garmin panel mount GPS units.

[englishal]

The A3 had a nice ergonomic yoke, if you like that sort of thing, bristling with buttons including AP disconnect and electric trim, though myself I prefer to do it manually. Good Avionics stack, including [King I think?] IFR approaved GPS , AP with NAV/ALT/HDG/APR plus rate of decent and climb, dual NAV/COM, Dual VOR, comfy seats with head rests, EGT guage etc etc. No key needed, its all done be a bank of switches located above the windscreen. Nice aircraft to fly. As drauk mentioned they're 2000 models I think, so they have had about 3 years use. The 172s are just as nice, if you like a high wing. Makes me feel like I'm sitting in a gold fish bowl myself. I'll post a couple of pics here if I can find them. When are you going? I'm there in August.....

Cheers
EA:D

[OBK!]

hi englishhal.

I'll send you a pm later on. I am going in June, I have booked a flight for June 10th and returning home on June 24th, in hope of doing 40hrs in that Archer 3! It looks awfully nice!

I am hoping to visit the main attractions such as Grand Canyon, Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix. I want to visit the Monementury (sp?) Valley and have a tour around those weird looking mountains (the monuments?) but I don't know which airfield to choose to get there.

Also, I am planning to go to Flagstaff airfield, is the Flaggstaff crator anywhere near this? I think there's just so much to see that I have to make a fair comprimise! I am trying to organise the trip so that I end up going all the way around the states, i.e circumnavigating, but there's so much inside the circle to see, my plan is going to end up like some kind of scribble on the map haha.

fair winds
obk

[Julian]

Rainbow is a nice place to fly from and have nice aircraft (with the odd student hammered 152 you now wonder how it gets airborne :) ), I have racked up nearly 150hrs in their aircraft over several holidays!

The A3 and the 172 SP Skyhawk tend to have all the toys in them, a couple of mates and myself took the SP upto Vegas from LGB for the weekend. Even with 3 guys, luggage and full fuel we have no problems with performance and easily made the 12k MEA for the IFR crossing over the top of the LA basin. At the Grand Canyon we encountered a particulary hot day and still it performed admirably getting us off the ground.

As EA says, go for the block insurance rather than paying by the hour, I think $70 was for a years insurance though. Whatever it was it you going to do more than 14 hours you may as well buy the block rate.

Julian.

[OBK!]

Hi Julian,

Yeh I read on the website somewhere that the 172SP climbs like a "homesick angel" :cool: I think I have made the decision for the Archer III to be honest, I am bias to low wing aircraft :rolleyes:

Is it rainbow that does the block insurance? Or do I have to get that insurance from someone else, and does it cover what rainbow require? "All pilots have to have renter insurance to cover the aircraft deducible. This can be any commercial policy the market that covers up to $2,000 deductible and $5,000 loss of use."

Thanks
obk

[Julian]

Hi OBK,

Yes Rainbow will do you insurance for a one off payment rather than hourly rate, just see Jenny or Matt on the front desk when you fill out your hire form - they will probably remind you about insurance requirements anyway. Its a pretty standard thing and covers you for any damage to the aircraft except negligance - presumablly if you start pulling aeros in the A3 that sort of thing :D

If you email them they are very comprehensive at answering your questions, normally respond to by next day - email usually sitting in my inbox when I get into work in the morning.

Julian.

[OBK!]

hi Julian

cheers for that. I have found that Rainbow are very good at responding emails. I was playing "ping pong" the other night with emails, me being awake 1am though :ouch: They seem like a very organised and well managed group.cheers

obk

[david viewing]

OBK

Meteor crater is 30 or 40 Miles E of Flagstaff. About 15mi NE is Sunset Crater, a recent cinder cone.

E of Meteor Crater is Winslow, fuel on request but very quiet, perhaps the last field on Linburgh's TAT route in original condition.