January 2005
Dr. Gary Schorr is a great aviation success story. I met the doctor several years back when he and I got involved with a fractional ownership of a King Air. Part of the deal was that I would teach Gary to fly.
Schorr turned out to be a great student and earned his private license flying a variety of late model aircraft that were available from the local flight school.
He passed his checkride and the aviation bug bit him hard. Gary decided to take the plunge and purchase his own aircraft, and use it to get his instrument rating.
He turned to some of his friends for advice and under their guidance he purchased a cherry 1979 PA-28-235B Dakota. The double taper wing, Lycoming 540, 235 hp Cherokee was an excellent choice for a first aircraft. He followed his plan and obtained his instrument rating.
Two years later, Gary has logged more than 265 hours, most of it in his Cherokee and he’s loving every minute of it. In fact, he is now building a home on the residential airpark where he keeps his airplane, so he can have even easier access to his pride and joy.
His Dakota is without a doubt the finest flying example of that vintage aircraft I have seen. The 2,000-hour total time airframe features new paint, interior and factory exchange engine, plus a Garmin 430 and a Garmin 330 transponder, along with a king KX-155 and an original but fully functional autopilot.
When I asked him what he felt was the best part of learning to fly, he went on about the virtues of using his airplane for transportation at his convenience and the ability to take his dogs with him. For those of you who haven’t been on an airliner lately, pets are not welcome.
What was the worst thing about owning a personal aircraft? In his opinion, cost ranked as number one, but in the same breath he acknowledged that no one gets into aircraft ownership to save money. The second thing he mentioned was the occasional uncertainty of things like weather. Traveling by small plane is not necessarily a guarantee.
He loves his airplane, and he loves the fact that he can fill the tanks (72 gallons) and have 800 pounds of payload remaining. That equates to four 200-pounders in the seats, or more typically, himself and one other guest, his dogs and their gear.
He operates off of a grass strip and the 235 hp Dakota delivers excellent soft field performance.
If he has a complaint, it is the same complaint that every aircraft owner has and that is he wishes for either more speed or more range.
When asked if he was planning any upgrades to his already magnificent aircraft, he responded that he is considering installing a combination terrain avoidance, traffic avoidance weather uplink system. Those features are scheduled to be available on the Garmin 430 in the near future.
So what are the good doctor’s plans for his aviation future? Well, first he wants to move in to his new home on the airstrip. After that, he may consider moving up to a twin.
Michael Leighton is a 3,100-plus CFII MEI/ATP as well as an A&P mechanic, and is type rated in Citation 500 series jets. He operates an air charter company in South Florida. You can reach him via e-mail at av8tor0414@aol.com.
