Keeping Aging
Airplanes Ageless
Somerset Air Service’s 1981 Piper Arrow IV
BY MARK PHELPS
PRACTICAL ARTICLES about homebuilt aircraft projects and historic restorations have always been a mainstay of EAA Sport Aviation
magazine, and this will certainly continue in the future. Our readership
surveys have also indicated an increasing level of interest in how the
expansive fleet of classic production aircraft is being kept up-to-date
through aftermarket products, performance-enhancing STCs, new
technology, and other modifications. More than half the EAA membership flies an airplane built between 1945 and 1990, and there’s a clear
trend toward projects that update and improve these aircraft.
This month we are introducing a new article called Retro Fit. Every
month we’ll take a look at a classic aircraft that’s been substantially
upgraded in some way, sharing the information in a practical way
that’s useful across a broad range of EAAers’ projects.
The first example in the series involves a pragmatic business decision to update and upgrade a 1981 Piper Arrow IV, which serves as a
flight school’s complex trainer and rental airplane. If you have completed an upgrade project that you think would make a good candidate
for Retro Fit, e-mail it to us at editorial@eaa.org. We hope you enjoy
this new series.—Eds.
UNDERSTANDING THE MISSION
Somerset Airport (SMQ) is a classic in itself. Cousins Steve Parker
and Chris Walker are the third generation to operate Somerset Air
Service since their late grandfather established the Bedminster, New
Jersey, airport in 1947. They recognized that more and more
customers were flying glass-panel aircraft,
but as a family-run small business, it didn’t
make sense to finance a new Cirrus or
G1000-equipped Skylane. They looked into
what would make the most sense to upgrade
their aging T-tail Arrow instead.
UPGRADING THE PANEL
The panel was completely redone starting
with a Garmin G500 system replacing the
steam gauge six-pack. The G500 consists of
two 6.5-inch screens with solid-state accelerometers replacing the spinning gyros of
“conventional” mechanical gauges (
remember when taildraggers were known as
