Palmetto Air Service uses Cessna 152s for our primary trainers. They're cozy (ok, they're
small) but they were designed specifically with flight training in mind. Accordingly, they're easy to fly,
but require considerable finesse to fly well. They burn less than 6 gallons of fuel an hour, so you're not
paying an arm and a leg, and because they're two-seaters, you're not paying to insure a couple of empty seats.
Ours are deliberately minimally equipped -- we want you to learn to
FLY before you have to worry about fancy radios and gizmos that keep your head down in the cockpit. We think
the C-152s are the best civilian primary trainers ever made, and wish Cessna would see fit to build them again.
We have high hopes for their new Cessna 162 Light Sport Aircraft.
For advanced training,
instrument training, and rentals, we have a Grumman Tiger available. The Tiger is an exceptionally fun airplane to fly.
It's sensitive and responsive to your every wish. This one is fully IFR certified, with a Garmin GNS 430, a second
navcom, and a fuel totalizer. Aerodynamically slick, the Tiger will outrun some light
retractables (cross-country at 135 knots, anyone?) and still burns less than 9 gallons an hour.
We also have some
goodies lurking in the hangars that aren't on the rental line right now. Woody's pet is a 1967 Bellanca Viking.
Three hundred horsepower, retractable landing gear, and an intimidating roar. Bellancas
are true pilots' airplanes. The wings are wood, the fuselage is tube and fabric, and the handling is unbelievably
good. Don't let the wood scare you -- termite inspections are not required. Did I mention they're fast? This one
does about 180 knots, which is as fast as airliners used to go.
Edna's love is a 1977 Grumman Cheetah, Hot Number Junior. It's fast, it's sleek, and it's visible from a LONG way off. This one's undergone a series of upgrades, starting with paint and interior and finishing with a complete avionics transplant. In between was a Black Edition engine overhaul and a high compression upgrade, done by Victor Aviation in California. Let's see, what's left to do? Maybe a new pencil? The paint scheme was custom designed and gave Edna a chance to revisit her childhood and play with the big box of crayons again. Of course there's a story behind the paint and a story behind the name.
At the
other end of the luxury spectrum is our 1947 Piper Cub Special, Butterfinger. There's a story behind that name, too,
and it's a long one. Seems the wings were rebuilt several times between the time the airplane went out of service for
a scheduled recovering in the late 1970s and the time she next flew in 1996. They were rebuilt by our resident genius
mechanic just before Hurricane Hugo. Bad timing: the hangar fell on them. The mechanic was transferred to Texas
and another genius rebuilt them the next time. Unfortunately, he had other commitments and couldn't do the
whole airplane, so we found a restoration shop to do the job. Alas, in trucking the airplane to Atlanta, the
wings were dinged again. The damager rebuilt them on his own time, but not to our satisfaction or to that of
Barnstormers Workshop, who was restoring the airplane for us.
Barnstormers stripped the wings down again, repaired them, and had them painted through silver. . . when the sawhorse
collapsed. Wings rebuilt yet again, she was christened with an enormous Butterfinger candybar instead of champagne.
She's a wonderful airplane to fly, slow and quiet, with the wind in your face. No radio, no starter, nothing to
distract you from the art of flying or from the perfect summer evening along the beach.
Oh, yeah -- and here's
the airplane that started Palmetto Air Service, lovingly restored to better than new by her new owner. She
taught a lot of people to fly and earned her posh retirement as a pampered plane.
