Musketeer A23 Advice
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Musketeer A23 Advice
Just been offered the use of a Musky subject to sucessful checkout. Only ever flown high wing Cessnas and could use any pearls of wisdom from the Beech drivers out there - especially approach and landing issues.
Thanks in advance,
Sicknote
Thanks in advance,
Sicknote
Last edited by mark sicknote; 14th Feb 2008 at 07:00. Reason: Where did I learn to spell?
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Don't know what the post above is about, but i'll try to answer the question. I had a share in a Sundowner, which was the later version of the Musketeer. It handled very nicely in flight - incredibly stable and comfortable. It feels like a really well made Piper to me - everything is just that bit more solid. You have to be careful about the W+B - particularly the balance. To fly it 1 or 2 up with anything like a decent amount of fuel, we had to ballast the rear or the aircraft. In our case, we used oil, a towbar and cleaning products, which worked very well.
It handles a little differently on landing - instead of a sprung steel or oleo suspension, it has a trailing link design with compressed rubber providing the spring and the damping. In practice this means that if you try very hard to get a gentle landing, it tends to skip about a little. With a little practice and a little less finesse, you will get the smoothest landings ever with it.
The biggest difference for me was the nose wheel steering. Unlike Pipers or Cessnas, then centre of the nose wheel is behind the centre of the shaft that steers it. What this means is that if you just try to steer, it won't go anywhere. you need to get it rolling, and then steer - after that, everything is normal.
Good luck - i'm sure you will enjoy it.
It handles a little differently on landing - instead of a sprung steel or oleo suspension, it has a trailing link design with compressed rubber providing the spring and the damping. In practice this means that if you try very hard to get a gentle landing, it tends to skip about a little. With a little practice and a little less finesse, you will get the smoothest landings ever with it.
The biggest difference for me was the nose wheel steering. Unlike Pipers or Cessnas, then centre of the nose wheel is behind the centre of the shaft that steers it. What this means is that if you just try to steer, it won't go anywhere. you need to get it rolling, and then steer - after that, everything is normal.
Good luck - i'm sure you will enjoy it.
