Any GA-7 Cougar drivers out there?

[Contacttower]

I had a go on one of these comparatively rare twins recently and was wondering if there was anyone else on here who had flown it who could share there opinions or offer any general advice on flying it.

From my first impressions considering it only has 160hp a side it seems to get reasonable performance and with quite a low Vmca speed is docile on one engine if rather limited with a sea level climb of 200ft/m at max weight.

[eyeinthesky]

Pretty viceless, but underpowered if you load it up. I used to fly one out of Elstree for traffic reporting and sometimes needed a sharp pencil to make the uphill runway, a warm day and enough fuel to complete the sortie work...

Cruise about 130kts. Good training aircraft because you need to get it all right to get it to climb on one engine!

[Contacttower]

Pretty viceless, but underpowered if you load it up.

As I thought really. With only 15 registered in this country and only 115 ever built though I suppose there aren't going to many on here who've flown it.

[rocco16]

Used to instruct on one, good training platform, not too quick or expensive to operate (for a twin). not so clever when fully loaded.

[polohippo]

GA7

Did my IR on one, it seems very high off the ground when you're sitting in it. Problem for me is that the seat doesn't adjust in height and I'm tall so my head was on the roof most of the time.

I regularly fly a Partenavia now which I absolutely love, great visibility, great endurance, excellent payload and a 25 kt crosswind limit. The high wing with the engines behind you make it a pleasure for VFR flying!

[GARDENER]

Although there were not that many manufactured you will probably find quite a few people in the UK who fly commercially have flown one. I believe Cabair had a fleet of them at one time used for commercial training as did Leeds Flying School where I was first introduced to the GA7. At the time having little twin time I found it to be a good for the role (CPL/IR training) but as suggested for real world ops a tired example would be lucky to climb SE! No surprise here but I understand that getiing spares is not too easy.

[silverknapper]

Agree with Polohippo. I'm not particularly tall at 5'10 and still had to remove the headset cushion from a standard set of DC's to be able to move my head around the cabin.
Very easy aircraft to overload from memory. Two blokes, bags for a weekend and full tanks would be out of limits IIRC.

[HN1708]

Parts are a real problem, with only 115 ever made no one was keen to make spares for them. If you're looking to buy one i'd find out where some broken ones are in order to rob parts when required.

Not a bad machine but not fast at 125-130kt cruise and barely climbs OEI WITH everything done right!

Had trouble with starter buttons failing- they seemed to do this in the on position and kept the starter engaged, and with flush breakers (non-pull type) this was a major hassle.

That said, they go cheap and can be economical to fly if you can get spares.