Cessna T210N

The Piper PA32R family divides into three catagories; Lance I, Lance II and Saratoga.

The Lance I is benign load carrier, much like the aircraft it originates from, the Cherokee 6 300. This model has the hershey-bar wing and will do shorter grass strips and is a bit faster than a C6 – think 145kts.

The Lance II is the one with the T-tail and comes in turbo-charged and Normally aspirated versions. There’s a lot of bar-room talk about these, but suffice to say with the proper training they handle just fine – but the take off roll is 50% longer than the Lance I and they are not significantly faster in the cruise.

The Saratoga has the normal tail and the more modern, longer wings and comes in Turbo and Non turbo formats. As they get newer, they get heavier. An early non-turbo Saratoga with manual flaps may have a useful load of as much as 1,400lbs; a late Saratoga with electric flaps may be as little at 1,050lbs which, with a full 600lb fuel load, makes it a 2 person with bags aircraft. The Saratoga is the fastest of the family, and with a fresh motor and moderately loaded give 160kts. I’ve never flown a turbo saratoga, but I suspect that at altitude, you could go faster.

I loved my normally aspirated Saratoga, and never felt that it handled like a truck, but it is designed as a going-places IFR loadcarrier, so by definition it’s a stable platform. For a versatile machine that is sort of all things to all men, a Lance I is quite hard to beat; It’s just VERY hard to find a nice one.

quatrelle wrote:

In an attempt to keep in check the CHT and TIT, climb was restricted to around 300fpm due to having to reduce power and to keep pushing the nose down to get some airflow over the engine.

Those of us that owns a P210 and has learned how to set them up and operate them correctly, can tell you that you are completely wrong.

However if I just continued flying my P210 like I got it from the previous owner, I would probably seen exactly what you describe, and I would probably also exchanged 3 cylinders by now. Fixing the baffling, installing an engine monitor and getting GAMI injectors has made the P210 into an AWESOME travel machine.

And for the price you pay for a European example these days, there is nothing that can compare.
I would stay away from any EASA reg’ed aircraft, since you are hardly allowed to open the door with the permission from your CAMO. Use of old parts is also much easier on N’reg aircrafts.

Problem with the P210’s is that some of the pressurisation parts are no longer available from Cessna. But we can keep it going for the next 20 years with salvaging from decommissioned aircraft and 2nd hand maintenance providers.

There is however some pitfalls you must be aware of when buying, so a proper pre-buy with backing from a P210 expert is crucial.
The CPA forum is the place to be.
Or I can help you out.
Always calculate an expensive 2 first year of ownership unless you find a cream-puff example. But you normally pay a premium for those.

I think you’ll find it cheaper to buy in Europe.

A search here on

prebuy

digs out a lot of threads. This one is however extra relevant to buying from somewhere far away – you will very likely buy the plane no matter how good or bad it is, for obvious psychological reasons.

Otherwise, the change in the $-€ exchange rate is way smaller than differences between what is on the market and their various conditions.

Olivier14 wrote:

Alex_ wrote:

have you looked at getting one from the U.S.? It would be a great trip back to Europe in the summer!

That’s another step in aircraft shopping, which brings yet some challenges…

Given the current USD – EUR/GBP exchange rate, I think you’ll find it cheaper to buy in Europe.

I’m not quite sure where this idea of Saratogas handeling like trucks comes from !! :-).

I flew a Beech when I was buying my PA32R it has a different feel granted, but I find the PA32 handles nicely and you can be fairly assertive with it if needed. Compared to the TB20 I would say they are similar and I enjoy flying them both.

They have unfortunately become like ‘hens teeth’ have you looked at getting one from the U.S.? It would be a great trip back to Europe in the summer!

quatrelle wrote:

In an attempt to keep in check the CHT and TIT, climb was restricted to around 300fpm due to having to reduce power and to keep pushing the nose down to get some airflow over the engine.

The P210 I flew was nothing like that, but it had an aftermarket intercooler installed. Could that make the difference?

AdamFrisch wrote:

I was myself going to get a P210 at an early stage

Likewise about 14 years ago until I did a course on one in the States and it put me off of the P210 for life.

In an attempt to keep in check the CHT and TIT, climb was restricted to around 300fpm due to having to reduce power and to keep pushing the nose down to get some airflow over the engine.

AdamFrisch wrote:

Pressurisation is a game changer

Not when its only around 3.5psi

Finally ….I should say eventually… we reached its ceiling which on this day was 23500 ft we had to put the gear down to decend in an attempt to keep the temps in the green which resulted in a bo**ocking from air traffic for decending too slowly.

The P210 is nothing like a T210, it must be the most complicated and difficult single engine aircraft ever (almost) ?

The Silver Eagle turbine conversion still only has 3.5psi but its altogether a different aeroplane.

Pressurisation is a game changer. But the Centurion P210’s are complex planes and will have slightly higher maintenance. It’s just the name of the game with turbo engines. I also do recall the 210’s in general have a very expensive part in the gear system (can’t recall exactly what) that Cessna does not longer make, so you might just want to check with the Cessna Forum what that might be.

I always loved the look of the 210 and I was myself going to get a P210 at an early stage. Hope you get one, seem like great traveling machines.