The Practical Piper Pacer

I'm happy to share that I've had another feature story published in Piper Flyer Magazine - The Practical Piper Pacer.
Cover and center title spread of The Practical Piper Pacer
My first Piper Flyer article,  Airshow Entertainer: Lowell White’s Vagabond – A Piper Vagabond Finds Its Way Home, was published back in November 2014. Writing for Piper Flyer was a great experience so I was thrilled when editor Heather Skumatz contacted me to see if I wanted to write an article on Piper Pacers for the magazine. For a moment  I considered passing up the assignment because my schedule at the time was super busy and the deadline just two weeks away. But the idea of writing about Pacers - that's the kind of airplane I own and know so well -  was way too tempting. So, instead of passing up the opportunity, I asked Heather if I could write the story from the first person perspective (primarily to save time) and bump out the deadline a few days. She said yes to both so I got to work.

Even though the story was a first person narrative talking about why I bought a Pacer and how my family has used the plane over the years, I still had a fair amount of research to do. I contacted several other Pacer owners to talk about why they love their planes (thank you Mark, Ohlau, Fred Mayes, Steve Pierce and Bryan Hunt for all of the information!) I read historical articles on the Pacer and why it was developed and I looked up the airplane's specifications. Then, for a sidebar piece, I talked to Univair Aircraft Corporation and Steve of Pierce Aero to find out what it takes to convert a Piper TriPacer into a Piper Pacer. After I turned the story in to Heather for her capable editing (she's really good!), I gathered pictures and wrote up photo credit and caption information. There's a lot of work beyond writing the story to get an article all wrapped up and ready to go!

But, boy, the work was well worth it when I got a copy of the magazine in my hands and saw not just my article on the cover but ELEVEN whole pages of the magazine devoted to the story (twelve if you count the picture on the title page). To top it off, Piper Flyer's Creative Director, Yee Chan, did a fabulous job with the layout and used 17 pictures with the story.

I'm absolutely thrilled with the way my story turned out and am happy to share it here with you.

Click HERE to view a PDF of The Practical Piper Pacer - this includes all of the pictures
Click HERE to view a text version of the story on the Piper Flyer website.

Here's my Piper Pacer. "Miss Angela" - PA22/20-160, N2544P
If you're an airplane person, especially a Piper person, be sure to check out membership in the Piper Flyer Association. Benefits of membership include:

  • A subscription to Piper Flyer
  • Parts locating for hard-to-find parts
  • Technical support
  • Member discounts
  • Fly-ins and annual member gathering
  • Members-only website with exclusive Piper Flyer community access
Find out more at www.PiperFlyer.org

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