Piper Comanche Fly-in, Maastricht 9 to 12 September 2011
Ongoing enthusiasm for the best Piper ever


Text Gerrit Brand
Photography Suhaila Sahmarani

‘Aeroplane, not plane,’ says Peter Greenyer correcting us immediately as we start to talk with him about the beautiful planes, which are parked on the platform for Air Service Limburg at Maastricht airport. ‘And an aeroplane is a “she”,’ he emphasises, ‘just like a car.’ Greenyer is one of the participants in the Fly-in that was organised during the weekend of 9 to 12 September in Maastricht. It was the Fly-in of the European ‘tribe’ of the International Comanche Society (ICS), organised by former KLM captain, Kees de Hoogh.

Greenyer is an Englishman full of anecdotes. Take, for example, his view that an aeroplane is female. According to him it is quite simple. ‘She is the love of your life, for years on end you do everything for her, she strips you clean, takes every last penny from you and then takes off for another lover whom she subsequently strips as well.’ That's simply how it goes.

And yet the members of the Comanche Society are not ready to part with their aeroplanes yet. One thing becomes clear when you talk to them. They are all completely mad about their Comanche. ‘Piper has always given its aeroplanes names that had something to do with Indians,’ says Kees de Hoogh. ‘That is why our club is divided up into “tribes”. We are the European tribe and organise a Fly-in about three times per year. We have already been all around Europe. At one of our Fly-ins, last year, Trix brought her home town of Maastricht to our attention and that meant that I had to assume responsibility for the organisation. Maastricht-Aachen Airport did everything possible to help us organise the event and Air Service Limburg was particularly helpful.’ (It is only fair to mention that because for those who do not know it yet, ASL is fully back in business again).

The mood is ecstatic during the photo session we hold with the aeroplanes. There are some 20 models from different countries including oddballs such as a Lancair from the Swedish ICS member, Christer Wretlind and a Beech Bonanza from the German Wolfgang Fehlhaber. But back to the Piper Comanche. There are single and twin motor models owned by Dutch, German, British, French and Italian members. All of the men have flown to Maastricht with their wives/partners. The programme for this Fly-in is stunning, diverse and interesting. Arrival is on Friday 9 September and then in the afternoon the programme starts straightaway with a visit to Eurocontrol in Maastricht (next door to ASL). On Saturday a visit to the Eben Emael fort in Belgium and to the underground network of the Cannerberg, with a surprise underground lunch provided by Chateau Neercanne and of course a free afternoon in Maastricht. Sunday's programme includes a lunch on a boat on the River Maas and in the evening the big gala dinner in Château Neercanne.

A brief piece of Piper Comanche history. The Piper Comanche is broadly speaking, constructed as a PA-24 or a PA-30, in other words as a single engine or as a twin engine with four or six seaters. The fuselages are basically identical. The Comanches are equipped with Lycoming engines of various capacities. For example, there are single engines of 180, 250, 260 and even 400 hp as equally a turbo version. The Twin Comanches had two 160 hp or 200 hp engines, with some turbo models. An unusual model is the Twin Comanche with counter-rotating engines (the PA-39). The 180 and some 250 hp models have carburettors, the others have fuel injection. And whoever wants to know more will have to go and do some reading.

The ICS members have every reason to be passionate about their aeroplanes. The Comanche has a lot to offer. Members praise the spacious cabin and they really appreciate just how well the aircraft are constructed. The Comanche comes from the premodern era, so to speak, and therefore from an age when time and money (but especially money) were not an issue when it came to constructing a good aeroplane. Or as one of the members put it: ‘Compared to the Comanche, the Arrows and Archers that you see flying around all over the place are mere biscuit tins. The quality of the Comanche’s design and construction was simply far better.’ That is also evident from the fact that so many Comanches are still airworthy. Metal fatigue, corrosion or other problems that can put an end to an aeroplane’s lifetime hardly ever occur. ‘If you take good care of the aeroplane then you can fly with it forever.’

The Piper Comanche was built from 1956 until 1972, when Hurricane Agnes destroyed the factory at the Susquehanna river. As a result of flooding, the entire factory including equipment and machinery to construct the Comanches was destroyed. As Piper was already operating in another factory in Vero Beach, Florida, where it constructed Senecas and Arrows, it was decided to cease the production of the Comanche. A total of about 6000 Comanches were built, half of which are still flying around. If you look on the Internet a Comanche costs between 50,000 and 100,000 Euros and for that you have a very complete and highly robust aeroplane standing in the hanger, a good platform to equip with modern avionics. According to the club members, the Comanche offers the best performance per mile for a twin. And the single-engine Comanche performs even better than the twin. The twin consumes about 65 litres per hour, and flies up to a speed of 160 knots at an altitude of 10,000 feet (if desired). The single consumes between 46 and 60 litres per hour, dependent on the model and flies at 155 knots. Endurance is up to 8.5 hours. Now it’s up to you to calculate how far you can travel! There are many stories about long distance flights made by the Comanche, for example people crossing the Atlantic Ocean like the famous pilot Max Conrad. In 1959 he piloted a Comanche 250 non-stop from Casablanca in Morocco to Los Angeles (12340 km); extra fuel tanks were built in of course. The aeroplane was heavily overloaded and could barely take off at the start. Should you ever be in the vicinity then Conrad’s plane is now in a museum at Kansas Airport.

It is estimated that about 70 Comanches are flying around in Europe. Unfortunately there are only three in the Netherlands and two in Sweden. Most of the rest are flying in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. They are indeed beautiful aeroplanes which are really well maintained by their owners. The photos speak volumes in that respect.

In box:

Organiser Kees de Hoogh (70) is a former KLM pilot. Together with his wife Trix, he now runs several holiday homes in the South of France close to Toulouse. He is extremely fortunate because he has his own runway for his PA 24 260B there. However, you can’t quite jump into your aeroplane and land there yet. Kees is still busy trying to obtain permission from the French authorities to make his runway available to third parties, and so you’ll have to bear with him for the time being. Four official airfields lie within 20 NM of Kees, however. Further information: www.bouteille.nl