Albuquerque, New Mexico
Each
time a landing is made with Partenavia's P68 Observer people seem to
come out of the woodwork with questions or comments such as Man, you can
really see out of that airplane" or "That's just like a
helicopter" or "What do you do with it?" I personally
like the last question. "What's the main purpose of the
airplane?"
In
1982, I first read about the P68 in a flying magazine. At the time, l
was the Pilot/Biologist for Region 3 based in Minneapolis and flying for
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
We were flying a 337 Cessna and had decided that maintenance was really
eating our lunch, so I began the search for a new aircraft that would
fill our needs. It did not take long because to find an aircraft with
similar numbers to a Skymaster, and still have a high wing aircraft, we
were immediately looking at the Partenavia P68 Observer.
In
August 1984, I was transferred to the Fish & Wildlife Service in
Albuquerque and was confronted with a similar situation, a Sky master
that needed to be replaced. In May 1985, we leased the first Partenavia
in the Fish & Wildlife Service. Although Minneapolis had bought one,
they were not yet operating it.
I
was checked out in the airplane by Myra Slovack on May 1, 1985 and flew
it about 65 hours that month. During that time I was asked to fly the
Canada Goose Surveys (Breeding Pair Surveys) out of Churchill, Manitoba.
This was a great opportunity to test the P68 under (what most people
would consider) rough survey conditions. By that I mean low and slow
over many miles of wilderness.
I
left Minneapolis on June 5, 1985 at 1630 with Dave Cerrin and arrived in
Churchill at 2400 after stopping in Winnipeg to pick up Missouri State
Waterfowl Biologist Dale Humberg. We had flown nearly 1200 miles, with a
passenger stop at Winnipeg and a gas stop at Thompson where the road
ends with only railroad from Thompson to Churchill. The weather was
marginal from Thompson, with possibilities of thundershowers, rain, rain
mixed with snow, and low stratus in the Churchill area. Of course, you
cannot depend on Churchill weather more than one hour at a time so we
wanted a lot of fuel in case we needed to return to Thompson, a
240‑mile trek. But when we arrived at Churchill, the low stratus
had moved inland and we could land without even an instrument approach
of which Churchill. has several, including an ILS.
The
next two days were cold, 30‑32 degrees, with rain, fog, and snow,
and I grew anxious to try the new aircraft. The third day had good
weather and we were able to fly for the next five days. The performance
of the P68 was absolutely perfect. In other years with the Sky master it
was difficult to continually operate at or below 85 knots. With the
Partenavia, l could easily sit there at 70‑75 knots and
75‑85 feet AGL all day long. We had approximately 2000 miles of
transects to fly over a roadless wilderness area, making navigation at
this low altitude somewhat difficult. The aircraft performed flawlessly
and we returned to the U.S. without one mechanical gripe, which is more
than I could ever do with the previous aircraft.
The
Observer (or glass nose model) is nothing short of fantastic. I cannot
understand anyone in resource work that would consider any other kind of
aircraft if the primary responsibility is surveys. Visibility from the
Observer is superior to anything I had flown before. We would normally
see approximately 70 to 80 Canada goose nests during the transect
portion of the survey. The first year with the P68, we saw nearly 200, a
factor of slower speeds and the ability to see so far ahead. We also
flew the Cape Churchill area looking for goose nests in order to count
the eggs in each nest. This went well with the P68. It probably cut our
time in half because of the forward visibility and because we could fly
so much slower. One of the most fantastic benefits of this aircraft is
the stall speed, 62 knots with VMC at 62 knots. So with a survey speed
of 75 knots, you still have plenty of room if an engine goes away on
you.
In
short, the P68 Observer will do everything it is asked to do and more.
It will climb to 21,000 feet at full gross and will continue to fly at
14,500 feet at full gross with only one engine. The P68 will true out at
165 knots at 7500 feet, similar to the Sky master I would not bet either
was if it came down to a race. You might say that everything cannot be
that good, but I will say that there is nothing bad about it that
detracts from its many benefits.
Some
people have said that it has to be hard to fly IFR. It is not. It's very
stable and a slight offset in the instrument panel presents no problems.
Some people prefer the standard model, because of the greenhouse effect
‑ I think they are wrong. On a 90 to 100 degree day, the P68 is
hot (do you know an aircraft that isn't?) but not that bad. I have been
hotter in the Sky master during low level surveys. With the P68's air
conditioner going during a low level survey on hot days it is better
than the Sky master Let's face it, most surveys (low altitude) are
finished before the hot part of the day.
The
only negative point I can make is that getting in and out of the pilot
and copilot seat is somewhat difficult. There's not a lot of room for
maps, charts, etc. But if you're doing surveys, this is the aircraft you
need; and if you need to transport people once in a while it can carry
six with more comfort, leg room, etc. than most other light twins.
I
am not knocking the Sky master I flew one for several thousand hours,
but I think the Partenavia has replaced it and will be the aircraft of
the future for resource pilots and many others who need a truly
versatile aircraft.
CONSERVATION
AERONAUTICS AUGUST 1989
