Flying

Walker has been interested in aviation since he was very young. He was the proverbial kid hanging around the local airport bumming rides with anyone with an empty seat. He soloed in a Cessna 150, N1267Y, in 1964 on his 16th birthday -- the day that he reached the FAA minimum age for soloing in an airplane. He got his private pilot's license on his 17th birthday -- again, the minimum age for holding an airplane pilot's license.

Walker has accumulated over 1,900 hours of pilot-in-command flying time and is instrument rated and current. He also has a glider rating and over 100 hours of time flying sailplanes.

We now do most of our traveling in our Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six, N44601. The "treasure hunter" has six seats, and cruises at about 170 MPH. This makes traveling to anywhere within 500 or so miles of Houston a simple day trip, and makes destinations within 1,000 miles an easy weekend trip.

These two views are of the roomy interior of 44601, looking back from the front seats, and looking forward from the back seats. When just the two of us are traveling, we can quickly remove the four rear seats and leave them behind. In this configuration, the airplane is virtually a flying mini-van. Our general rule is that, if we can get it to the airplane in a rental car, then we can get it home!

This is a view of 44601's flight deck.
	She has the following additional equipment: McCauley Blackmac 3-bladed propeller Backup electric attitude indicator Vertical card compass True airspeed indicator Electric trim Precise Flight standby vacuum Knots-2-U wheel fairings, aileron, flap, and stabilator gap seals, flap hinge fairings, wing root fairings, slimline vertical fin cap and strobe Whelen Comet-Flash wingtip strobes Tinted ¼" windows all around
She is fully IFR equipped, with the following avionics: Garmin GNS 530W GPS/NAV/COM Garmin GNS 430W GPS/NAV/COM Garmin GPSMAP 496 GPS with XM weather Piper Autocontrol III autopilot DAC GDC31 roll steering converter Cobham System 30ALT altitude hold Garmin GMA 340 audio panel KT-76A transponder Monroy ATD-200 traffic detector InSight StrikeFinder weather avoidance with internal heading stabilization InSight GEM 601 graphic engine monitor Digital outside air temperature Separate avionics power bus and avionics master switch

We have even flown her down to the Caribbean numerous times. Here are photos of 44601 parked at the Capt. Auguste George Airport on Anegada in the British Virgin Islands. BVIPirate Airlines is always looking for new destinations!

This page and the contents thereof are the property of Walker Mangum
Copyright © 2002, 2006 by Walker Mangum
All rights reserved
Images on this page may not be reproduced without the express consent of Walker Mangum
You are welcome to create links to this page.