Partnavia P68
 

Hi!!

I would be intrested to talk about the Partnavia P68 with like minded pilots!

I have been endorsed on this type for about 2 years now and think its a great aircraft!

seats 6 people, but due to the MTOW you can really only ever go with 4 PAX plus 3/4 of fuel, but a great aircraft for scenic flights.

I did a wonderful tour across Australia in one last year, leaving from Sydney, Bankstown all the way over to Broom, WA!

I have only ever had one real incident with a C model, where I suffered a total loss of MAP on my number 1 engine on approach in IMC, but apart from this have had several happy flights in them.

as everyone will know they are now called Vulcan air's and come with various instrument suites available.

well hopefully hear from some other Partnavia enthusiast's shortly :)

The Partenavia is a wonderful machine. I only have a handful of hours in these and that was the B model.

The owner said that maintainance costs were always mininum compared to other 6 seat twins and that is probably due to the fixed undrcarriage with engines/props out out the way of dust/stone ingress.

Refuelling can be a p.i.t.a but other than that nothing much else to report.

Engine out, it performs pretty well on one 200hp. The IO-360 is pretty reliable but with anything mechanical, nothing is bullet proof. My guess is that the "C" handled pretty well in the scenario you describe.

Yes she got down fine that day! although it's never a nice feeling when the engine does'nt do what is asked of it :eek:

I have also flown a B model with the scenic windows fitted! great aircraft! and if like me one worries a little about these old planes undercarridges failing the P68's fixed undercarridge is a real plus!

I got about 140 kts in the cruise, were you getting a similar figure?

I did the post ( major ) maintenance test flying on the Observer, a nice aircraft to fly but not as nice as the piston powerd offerings from Beech.

As a working aircraft the Observer is superb with helicopter like visibility and the option for the fitting of all sorts of survey kit.

On the whole a very good aircraft for the price.

POS INT - yes about 140-145kts from memory @ 75% 24/24 and 12usg each side.

I have had one and out of 440 metres. Fantastic STOL

I can only claim a few hours on the Partenavia but it was like a little go kart on takeoff.
These downsides i was given as Heresay!
One owner was grounded for six months awaiting parts production but that was a few years back so maybe changed?
They are not good in icing ?

Pace

Pace
 

Ice respects no aeroplane !

no areoplane indeed :D

440m? Laughable! A real twin gets off in 200m!

;);):E:ok::ok::}:}



To be honest, I've only heard good things about P68's. Just 6 months ago there was one for sale in the UK for £15K that I spoke to the seller about. It had corrosion, but was in no way beyond salvation. It was stuck at the closed Plymouth airport. Don't know what happened to it, but I hope someone gave it a loving home.

Agreed but!!! Some do better and carry Ice better than others. The Cessna 303 had a cruciform tail which with even light icing created a pitching moment until a mod was created to eliminate the problem.
Deice/anti ice failure would be far more serious on a Lear 45 than a straight winged Citation.

Pace

Nice video Adam. :ok:

I should rephrase. The strip was 440mts

I guess that I got in on 280 - 320mts and out on 380 - 400mts.


(Not my video)

The P68 has been historically vulnerable to engine air intake icing, more so than other aircraft in its class. Its airframe doesn't accumulate ice any more than its competitors.

I have quite a few hours in P68Bs (from back in the 90s). Two things to remember:

1. Never, ever, fiddle with the fuel cocks or try crossfeeding unless you can't conceivably make things any worse, and

2. Pull the alternate airs at the first hint of IMC.

Other than that, a lovely aircraft: you can fly it like an airliner, and you can throw it around like a light-ish single if you want.

Been all round Europe in one, and also done quite a bit of air-air photography with the cargo door off, too.

Nice aeroplane.

The company for which I worked in the 1980's had a P68 flying from Wilson Airport in Nairobi into Somalia.

The pilot would occasionally cheer us up by telling us at what altitude it would level out fully loaded on one engine.

It was about 2000 feet below ground level at Nairobi!

Not that he ever did lose an engine. Nearly took the fin off hitting a vulture though.

Adam, going off at an angle across the runway to reduce the straight-line distance down the runway is cheating :)

Astir 8, was that G-OLMA that on air test met the SE climb figure as the ground came up to meet aircraft?

This is a good one...


RUPT AILES CRASH - YouTube

Gordon Field

That may have been the one our pilot was thinking of!

POS INT,
Richard Westnot
NewTimer,

With regard to the performance see below some real-life pictures that essentially confirm your numbers. Our P68 makes 142 kts @ 65% power @ 4500 ft (500lbs below MTOW). Note that:
1) this was without wheel fairings which would give you an additional 7 knots, rather considerable. (While go get then about the handbook speeds, the P68 however looks much nicer without them and their possible use is depending on the RWY-conditions)
2) Number 1 engine is brand-new (4 hrs when the picture was taken, 2 weeks ago), requiring rich fuel-flow

And Yes, there are two issues:

1) the fuel cocks as NewTimer rightly tells us:
a) different P68 may have quite fuel different systems, watch that!
b) you may not select what you think you do, since the cable link between selector and actual valve is "soft", can misalign, and has no detent.


2) the air-intake icing. Alternate air should not only be actuated in actual IMC but when IN VISIBLE MOISTURE (placard!)
I wish everybody many hours in this lovely plane.


http://imageshack.us/a/img442/9462/powerp68.png
http://imageshack.us/a/img694/1765/pfdp68.png

Good P68 for sale in Europe?
 

Hi,

I am looking for a good P68C with de-ice for sale, pilot door would be a plus. Any good tips ?

Thank you in advance

Stefan