Past airplanes?

[patrolpilot]

What did you own and fly?

I had a PA22/20 that I used to commute to work in, religiously, over 500 commutes over a ten year period. It was my "Mini-Cooper." I flew it 1200 hours in this role, half of that after midnight. I had two missed approaches are all, one out of an ILS and the other out of a GPS approach. The ILS was successful on the second attempt and I didn't even bother with another GPS after that miss. I flew 19 miles further and landed with an ILS.

The 160 HP Lycoming, an O-320-B2B, never gave me a bit of a problem. I flight planned the airplane at 120 knots. It had the Atlee Dodge long-range tanks, 60 gallons, and a cruise prop. I flew it regularly above 10K', outside of the commuting, for the extended flights. It had an oxygen system and after the first time I flew it 5 hours in cruise at 16K', I landed and ordered a Steve's Aircraft Rudder Trim Kit and STC. My right leg didn't work for an hour.

Honestly, I put the oxy system in the aircraft for my mid-night thirty commute home, usually flown at less than 2K'. Coastal Texas typically gains a robust SW flow (15 ~ 25 knots) after midnight with a base of about 2', hence, the lower altitude under it with no wind. Typically you would find me wearing a cannular and breathing bottled O2 as I would come out of a 10 to 12 hour duty day on the airliner. That O2 turned on the lights for the late-night commute home. That's why I put it in.

Besides the commuting, I flew it to all the corners of the 48 States and the Carribean.