Budget Buy: Piper Comanche 250

It will whip a Cessna 182’s tail any day, carrying about the same weight with full fuel. Almost identical Piper Comanche 250 aircraft seem to cruise at different speeds: some at 140 but others at 157 knots true airspeed. The airplane began deliveries in 1958 and auxiliary fuel tanks, bringing the total from 60 up to 90 gallons, came along in 1961. The gross weight jumped from 2,800 pounds to 2,900 pounds that same year. If you pick a 1962 Comanche 250 you’ll have electric flaps. The Comanche comes in many flavors—meaning horsepower—from 180 to 400. Fewer than 150 of the 400-horsepower models were built. The Comanche 260 may gain you a few knots but the 250 may be better for your budget.

THE REAL WORLD

Thomas Warren of Houston is parting with his co-owned Piper Comanche 250 after eight years because of speed. He sees 150 knots true airspeed at whatever altitude he likes, but the Lancair 4P he now owns will travel more than 230 knots true airspeed. It literally wins the race as to which aircraft stays and which one goes. He and his partner track the exact per-hour cost of the Comanche to include fuel, oil, maintenance, hangar, and most costs, like the $1,700 he pays per year for insurance, and it works out to $65 an hour. It was primarily a business airplane and provided a reliable instrument platform that never missed a flight because of maintenance. He had the 60-gallon tanks as opposed to the optional 90-gallon-total fuel tanks, and burned 13.5 gallons per hour when power of the retractable airplane was set to 23 inches of manifold pressure and 2,400 revolutions per minute. “I had to go on business to west Texas in the summertime with a ground temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing 40 miles per hour, and I thought I was going to be baked alive before I could get it in the air,” Warren said. His wife suggested that if he bought anything else, it had better have air conditioning, and that led to the pressurized, air-conditioned Lancair 4P.

Alton K. Marsh is a freelance aviation writer.

For more information
Piper Owner Society, N7528 Aanstad Road, Iola,Wisconsin, 54945; 715-445-5000 ext. 152 or 800-331-0038; www.piperowner.org. Email is the best contact method.