Pluto's New Face

In the spring of 2005 Rick and I flew N22473, a Piper Warrior, from Norman, Oklahoma to Annapolis, Maryland, with Jenny and Scott in the similar N2136Y. Nicknamed "Pluto" and "Shrek" to keep the cartoon character names going, they've done nice work as teaching platforms for Navy midshipmen and others. But both had ancient radios and paint was flaking off, exposing bare metal to corrosion. Pluto in particular had recurrent radio problems and just wasn't trusted enough to be flown much by instructors and pilots. So last month Jenny arranged for both planes to be re-radioed and repainted in Hagerstown. The differences are pretty shocking:

Pluto before, in Kansas City

Pluto after, in Annapolis

Pluto's Original Panel

The new panel

The paint scheme is a collaboration of ideas from Jenny, Frank and me, a touch of the AOPA sweepstakes Cherokee Six, parts of the new schemes put on Archers at the factory, designs from airplanes we saw on ramps that we liked, and a hint of drawings Madison made for me. It's a bright scheme and looks great in Navy colors. The panel's still basic - no fancy-pants Garmin color GPS there - but perfectly suited to the plane's primary mission, basic flight instruction in the Baltimore-Washington airspace. It saved a ton of money too: We got the paint and radio upgrade for not much more than the cost of adding a Garmin 430. The digital radios and new audio panel make a huge difference in functionality.

36Y arrives next week with the same redo; they'll be near clones. "Dimples," the first plane we ever owned, remains red, white and blue till next year when she gets the same or similar scheme; Madison added a few details that I like. Who says a fleet has to be completely identical???