What brings this up is that I've lost a good friend who had recently acquired a Swift from another close friend. This particular Swift is a prime example of that model...low time, recent overhaul, last owner had it for 51 years...all the logs...etc etc.. Anyway...another friend ended up buying it from my friend...but had the misfortune of a rapidly-advancing health problem and did not get to enjoy it for long. HIs widow now offers it for sale...so knowing this airplane's history, I recommended it to another friend.... who decided to look further into it, and asked me to assist him in evaluating it.
That is when it became so obvious to me just what wonderful airplanes our 170's are! By looking into a beautiful airplane like the Swift...even a pristine example that is attractively priced.... it does not stand up to the utility of the 170...
Examples:
Payload: The typical Swift... is a one person airplane. It's basic operaing weight is 1250-1300 lbs...with a gross wt of 1710...leaving just enough to carry almost full fuel and one large person.
Performance: Here are the words of a long-time Swift-owner who is one of the guru's at the Swift Assoc'n, talking about his own airplane's performance at higher altitudes; "I live at 5,000 ft and ... I operated off a 6,000 ft runway in a valley. I tried the plane both with an Aeromatic prop and a fixed pitch metal prop. It would get off the ground in about 2500-3000 ft and would fly in ground effect, but climb was sometimes less than 50 ft/min. In the summer I always had to find the gliders and circle with them to get out."
Can you imagine a 170 needing 2500-3000 of ground roll...just to get airborne ?? In one of the worst examples of performance in my own airplane, which has a cruise prop...Jamie and I departed Animas (Durango) Colorado, which is at 6600 PLUS feet above SL. ... in the summertime heat-of-the-afternoon.... at gross weight .... (at least! ... Us two, full fuel, 200 lbs of baggage/goodies for convention, and two cases of bottled beer (donation to convention probably weighed another 60 lbs or so...) True enough...we used all 5,000' of the runway before we cleared the imaginary 50' obstacle... but we didn't use 2500-3000 of ground-roll! And 20 mins later we were over the 9,000' mountains to the west and cruising at 10,500', later on up to 12,500 toward our destination, Salt Lake! The short Swift wings do not like to perform at high altitudes, and original wingtips are hard to find and expensive...and any other wingtip costs you in performance.
Reading other comments at their forums, ...they all love their airplanes, as all owners normally do... but they have some unique problems we don't have with our Cessna's. They are timid about left crosswinds on takeoffs because the airplane will turn left and go to California when the tail comes up... and they definitely do not like 3-point landings because the airplane suddenly drops out from beneath them...usually pounding onto the main gear first... and the Adel landing gear gives a POUNDING on grass runways unless they are putting-tee smooth. Tall pilots have to fly with a crick in their necks from tilting their heads...and their knees bang against the lower instrument panel. Their sciatic nerves go to sleep after an hour, and they have to modify their seat cushions/backs to the thinnest possible to accomplish that.
The low-wing makes the airplane a greenhouse in summer, and gives you wet seats if tied down in the rain. No baggage capacity worth mentioning.
Then there's the maintenance issues of hydraulic system, retracting landing gear (and it's added insurance rates) and electric flaps... cracking vert stab spars and outer wingpanel corrosion...
But, Gawd.... I'll admit ....it's a beautiful airplane!
