Looking for your input

[Apelsin Elise]

Go for it.

I fly 1979 P337H out of KBJC. It is my first aircraft, I bought it six months after my PPL. No regrets.

Pressurized Skymasters are great for flying in the mountains. It is a very safe and forgiving aircraft. It flies nice on one engine. It can climb high and go fast (195 KTAS, 26 gph). It can stay low and go slow (135 KTAS, 15 gph). You get lots of options on how to fly it.

You will love handling and high density altitude performance. Leadville, Granby, Telluride and Glenwood Springs will be easy for you even on a hot July afternoon. Your passengers will enjoy looking at the mountain scenery instead of studying rivets on the wing and engine nacelles up close. Pressurization will spoil you rotten in Colorado.

I cannot think of a better aircraft for Colorado mountain flying.

Alex

[Frank Benvin]

Go for it my dad at 55 did half of his training on a single and the balance on a C337b He did his ride for his private licence in the C337b Now he is 83 and still flying his C337b

Frank

[bjherron]

I bought my P337 before I finished my private certificate, and started flying it with about 75 hours. In the following two years I put about 150-200 hours of flying time on it.

You just have to be careful that you don't get into situations (i.e. weather) that exceeds your experience. Also, plan on a LOT of dual time before you start soloing in the 337. I had about 25 hours of dual before I started taking solo cross country trips.

[Ernie Martin]

My initial reaction was to disagree about the number of dual hours. You see, after you've flown a 337 for a while, it's so easy, the aircraft so forgiving, that I thought 5 or 10 hours of dual, after your single private, would suffice. So I started writing a response along these lines, then decided to go find my 15-year-old logbook where the 337 dual was recorded and, surprise, I had about 30 hours. Oh, that's after my single private and a thousand hours of simulator time, most of it on multi-engine.

Anyhow, long response to say, yes, you'll need a LOT of dual time to fly a 337 safely.

Ernie

[hharney]

There was a C model for sale over in Paonia at the airport. I heard that it was a pretty nice Skymaster for a reasonable price. Not sure if that is in your area or not.

Once you get the bug you won't be satisfied till you taste the real thing .........

[JamesC]

Congratulations on not going the SR22 route. Obviously will in part depend on your skill level - I was not ready right after PPL. Bought my first Skymaster at 300 hours. Just don't get seduced by a marginal mission just because you have 2 engines (eg. as you know plenty of dead Cirrus pilots likely over-relied on the fact that they have a chute in their decision making process). Also be very careful about which 337 you buy - plenty of problem aircraft out there for sale with the oil all cleaned off.

[sns3guppy]

You will love handling and high density altitude performance. Leadville, Granby, Telluride and Glenwood Springs will be easy for you even on a hot July afternoon.

Flying to those locations is easy when all is working well.

You won't like them if you experience an engine-out, and that should always be your first consideration when flight planning. We don't plan for everything to work; we plan for failures, and then know we're safe when we can still work the emergencies and have enough margin of performance to get by.

Sometimes people mistake good two-engine performance for a pass to go places they ought not, conveniently forgetting what happens when power is lost. Same for the single engine crowd that forgets basic airmanship is always keeping a landing site within gliding distance.