Archer III Fuel range

Hi!  I also have the Archer III and love it.  I also fly PA28's in real life and I would expect those figures are for the absolute maximum distance you can make out of the aircraft.  You wouldn't get this sort of range out of an aircraft with a full passenger load.  I would say 2350rpm is the most economical cruise power setting and gives about 110kts, plus if you're flying higher than 3000ft you should lean the mixture off so the engine is not running so rich.  This improves performance and uses less fuel.

reider wrote: It seems in real life this would be an expensive aircraft to fly

Woo hoo!  Just completed an experiment.  Four people in the Archer III and full fuel on board.  We left EDDF Frankfurt after taxiing from the rear of the airport.  Climbed to 3,000 feet at which point I adjusted the RPM to between 2250 and 2350, the mixture was leaned off as far as possible.  Climbing on to 6,000 feet the height was maintained throughout the journey with about 100-105 kts.  The fuel tap was changed from one tank to another on a regular basis to keep the aircraft balanced and maintain maximum fuel efficiency.

We hit a steady breeze to strong wind just over midway across the channel.  Settings were maintained as far as possible.  Where they fluctuated was only basically in the air pockets we hit.  It was quite a relief to get across the channel, considering my earlier experiments with fuel and mileage.  We once more hit some crosswind just after 75 NM from our destination, quite a strong gust too but managable.

We reached our destination at EGCB Manchester Barton and the first approach was a little high for that flimsy high wire fence and grass runway, a tad fast too. But the nerves were a little jangled to say the least, we hadn`t come all this way to crash or run through the perimeter fence on the all too short slippery grass runway.  So I performed a go around and then got into a more controlled approach.  We used 75% of the runway length, I have done it with 50% once or twice (all good fun).

We had flown 455 NM!! Plus their was enough capacity I would judge to go another 50 NM so the official stats were spot on and this bird is definately in line with them-nice one JustFlight!  Thanks to Tom Wright for furnishing the inside information on how to achieve the optimum fuel usage against distance.  I really enjoyed this trip.

Reider