Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Saved by the Potty Break

In 1959 Piper Aircraft began selling the 250 HP version of the popular light twin-engine PA-23 Apache. The official designation of the aircraft was PA-23-250 but Piper decided to give this version a new "Indian" name – the Aztec. Almost all Piper aircraft have a name related to North or South American Indian culture. Some of the most popular are the Cherokee, Comanche, Navaho, Pawnee, Seneca and many more. Some such as the Warrior, Chief and the famous Cub are not names of tribes but are derived from Indian culture. There were a few aircraft like the Pacer and the Tri-Pacer that didn't follow the Indian name tradition
Aztec in flight.
The Aztec soon became a very popular airplane and it was manufactured until 1982 with many improvements made during that time. Over 4000 were produced in total and many were exported. It was a very popular aircraft for Part 135 Air Taxi operators because it had a large cabin that held 5 passengers for VFR (Visual Flight Rules) flights and 4 passengers for flights when a copilot was required. The passenger seats were easily removed to allow the hauling of cargo. Many operators that had been using the less powerful and smaller cabin Apache upgraded to the Aztec and kept their Apaches for multiengine trainers. From the early 1950's up into the 1990's, more pilots probably got their AMEL (airplane multiengine land) rating in an Apache that any other type of airplane.
I was learning to fly and working as a line boy for a Piper dealer in 1959. We had a big air taxi operation and used the Piper Apache for many of our trips. Ours were the early 150 hp models and had very poor single-engine performance when they had close to gross weight loading. There was an old joke - What is an Apache widow? The answer was – A woman that was married to a pilot that had a engine failure while taking off in an Apache with a passenger on board. They performed great on one engine if nobody was in them except a test pilot like Tex Johnson or Chuck Yeager. With both engines running, they were docile, stable and easy to fly. I would hate to guess how many times they have been flown by people that didn't have a multi-engine rating. Of course I never did something like that, but I do recall a few times when an Apache needed to get moved to a nearby airport and a multiengine rated pilot didn't happen to be around. I've been told that any person with some experience in complex singles could jump in an Apache and feel right at home as long as both engines kept running.
Now I'll get back to the story. We had sold Aztecs to two local doctors but neither had been delivered yet. On the night of this story, I had never seen a real Aztec before. About 4:30AM as I was returning to the hanger from the employee coffee shop, I was surprised to see a twin engine aircraft parked on the ramp in front of our office door. I knew it was an Aztec from all the publicity photos I had seen. My first thought was that Piper had delivered one of the doctor's airplanes. The airplane was empty and so was our office. The missing pilot mystery was quickly solved when a man in his early 40's came out of the men's room. He explained that he was delivering the brand new Aztec to a customer at an airport about 35 miles north. His bladder capacity was insufficient to continue to fly comfortably so he decided to land and relieve himself.
We were a large volume fuel dealer because we had some airline fueling contracts. Because of that, out fuel prices were lower that any of the FBO's in the area. It was this dealer's policy to always deliver a new airplane to the customer with full fuel tanks. Since our prices were so favorable, he asked me to fill up the main and auxiliary tanks. He would top them off at the destination with the more expensive fuel.
Our old Apaches held 72 gallons but I wasn't sure how much the Aztec would hold. It would certainly be more because of the larger, more powerful engines. I was a bit surprised when I looked at the meter and saw that it had taken a little more than 141 gallons to fill up all the tanks. I returned to the office and wrote out the invoice for the pilot to sign. I asked him how much fuel the airplane could hold because I had put in almost twice as much as our Apaches held.
The pilot gasped. You must have read the meter wrong. The airplane only holds 144 gallons and the Pilot Operation Handbook says that only 140 gallons are useable. I should have run out of fuel taxiing up to the hanger ramp. If I didn't have to use the restroom, I wouldn't even have landed here. Let's double check that meter reading!
We walked out to the fuel pump together. The pump meter had been calibrated and certified accurate only 3 days before. I shined my flash light on the dials for him to see. We always rounded to the nearest whole gallon when we sold over a hundred gallons. The numbers were 0141.1.
And that's the truth!
Bowinkle T. Propwash   

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