This was my first Twin aircraft! I obtained my twin rating in a similar
model and flew 50 hours in N7318Y before she almost killed me and my wife!
Not once, but twice! Within a week of buying her, Kate and I
flew up to Boulder from Scottsdale, to see Justin for his Birthday and the July
4th weekend. On our return to Scottsdale, at 13,500 feet just outside of
Albuquerque, New Mexico we lost not one, but both engines! I was able to
get them restarted and we landed at Albuquerque where I put Kate on a commercial
flight to Phoenix, and I took one to Burbank as we both had to go back to work
the next day. Several weeks later and $3K into the repair bill, Cutter
Aviation called and told me the plane was repaired, though they were unable to
uncover the reason for the twin engine failures. I flew commercial out to
pick up the Comanche and one hour into my flight, just over Wickenburg, AZ both
engines quite again. It turned out to be serious erosion in the cross feed
system, something that should have been uncovered in the annual tear down, but
was not. Kate insisted that I sell this plane as she had lost all
confidence in it, proving her point that a twin is "just twice as many
things to go wrong". At any rate, I have always loved the Twin Comanche
and this one taught me most of what I know about how I would handle an in-flight
emergency!
