Arrow III conversion
Aussie Andy,
I'd suggest trying to arrange a familiarisation trip in the Arrow somewhere in the UK before you use up too much valuable holiday time. Having around 60-odd hours of Warrior and Archer II / III under my belt, a couple of weeks ago I checked out on the Arrow III. Like you I had some CS prop experience, but none with disappearing wheels. It took me two flights totalling about 1 hr 40 mins. The first flight involved climbing a goodly distance from the ground and the crowded circuit to do 10-15 minutes of upper air work getting familiar with the U/C control and the emergency gear lowering procedure, the noise of the gear horn etc., followed by half a dozen mixed circuits. After a tea break we went for another 40 mins in the circuit, on one of which he pulled the U/C circuit breaker so that I had to do the emergency gear lowering drill on the downwind leg. After that he was happy with me and signed me off.
I felt the 1 hr 40 was time well spent, to be honest. It's partly getting the right habits into your head, and partially some minor handling differences. The Arrow III sits noticeably higher on the main gear than the Archer, and it does have to be held off slightly higher if you want to contact the ground prettily. Also, you notice the higher wing loading, and it's a fair bit heavier in pitch in the round-out than the Archer, and I noticed if you have the throttle fully closed it's possible to run out of up-elevator with two biggish blokes in the front and no-one in the back. A trickle of power in the round-out helps you get the tail down. (NB this is compared with the other )-320 and 360 powered models, I do not have experience of the 540-powerd Dakota, so your experience may vary from mine in this regard).