Thread: Training In 337
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Unread 08-03-08, 09:59 PM
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hharney hharney is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Michigan (8D4)
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I have both a TwinCo and a 337. Neither is turbo'ed but here is my 2 cents. My favorite is the 337. But it is getting harder and harder to justify the extra fuel vs the TwinCo. If I need to go somewhere and just get there and back I opt for the TwinCo, if I want to have some weekend fun, enjoy the scenery and fly with the Michigan Flyers then it's not a choice, take the 337. My annual on the 337 this year was $1500. My insurance for the 337 is around $3500. I pay just about the same for the TwinCo. I enjoy the TwinCo for it's speed and economy. If I had to keep just one airplane it would be the 337. I am the second owner of this Skymaster and have owned it for 32 years. I know the plane so well that I just can't see trading for any other Skymaster. Yes, turbos would be nice at times, pressurization would be nice too but the systems on the normal aspirated Skymasters are just a lot simpler to maintain. So I choose to just keep it simple. I flew the plane in the mountains for most of it's life before I moved to Michigan 7 years ago. I had no problem without turbos. For the type of flying that I do, this aircraft is just perfect. It handles so much better than the TwinCo in weather and turbulence. I love the visibility, entering in and out under the wing instead of over the wing and it is very stable on one engine in flight, even at the higher altitudes. I don't have any solid experience with P models but I have been around them enough to know that they will cost substantially more to keep up than just a normal aspirated. I would suspect a straight turbo would be somewhere between the two somewhere. The TwinCo is a great aircraft, especially for those that have not flown the Skymaster. Just like Jim said above, Once you get in a Skymaster the disease is with you forever. I really think that the TwinCo makes a lot of sense today and that is why most of them sell for at least twice what the Skymaster is selling for today.

You should have come to Kalamazoo in June when we had our meeting. It was a great time to learn about the aircraft and talk with the owners and pilots. You can't begin to put a price on real experience like the SOAPA meeting would have given you. Let alone 14 aircraft that would have taken you up on a flight. See you at SOAPA next year.
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Herb R Harney
1968 337C

Flying the same Skymaster for 47 years

Last edited by hharney : 08-03-08 at 10:03 PM.
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