Bob's new used Piper Archer

I decided in January (2003) that I was getting very tired of rental aircraft, and started looking around for a Piper Archer. Why an Archer? Because I was comfortable with them, would have no transition problems, and they have an excellent safety record.

As luck would have it, there not only was an Archer up for sale at South Jersey Regional, I knew people who knew the owner, George. The picture below was taken on the day that Carl and I test flew it. Three digits of the tail number have been edited out (this is the internet, after all).

To view a larger image, click on the picture you want to see. Return to this page by clicking on "Back".

George and I negotiated a deal, and inked a contract of sale. One of the stipulations was that I would pay for an annual inspection (an inspection required yearly by the FAA -- in this case several months before it was required). George flew the Archer to Performance Aviation at nearby Flying W airport (N14) where the annual was performed. This is what the airplane looked like while it was all apart for the annual.

The annual found some airworthiness problems which George had Performance Aviation correct, as we had agreed. On February 10, 2003, we consumated the deal, and I was now an aircraft owner. I had some avionics work done before flying the airplane -- an old Bendix/King KX170B nav/com radio was replaced with a 21st century Garmin 430 moving map GPS/nav/com, the transponder was replaced with a new Garmin unit so I could have traffic info displayed on the GPS, and i replaced the old emergency locator transmitter (ELT) with a new-fangled one which can be tracked and located quickly via satellite. Subsequently, I also replaced the old audio panel with a new Garmin after I experienced a transmit problem on the remaining Bendix/King KX155 radio. Click on the image below to see what a Garmin 430 looks like.

Stay tuned as I report my progress on my instrument rating!