AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 76

SPEC SHEET
1979 Grumman GA-7 Cougar
VREF AVERAGE RETAIL PRICE $65,000
SPECIFICATIONS

Takeoff distance, ground roll | 1,000 ft
Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle | 1,850 ft
Rate of climb, sea level | 1,160 fpm
Single-engine ROC, sea level | 200 fpm
Cruise speed/endurance w/45-min rsv, std fuel
(fuel consumption, ea engine)
@ 75% power, best power | 160 kt/5.3 hr
8,500 ft (9 gph)
@ 45% power, best economy | 109 kt/10.6 hr
8,500 ft (5 gph)

massive rear baggage area and a 175-pound
capacity. A nose baggage compartment stores
75 pounds of gear and there are cubbies for
pilot paraphernalia such as oil, covers, and
tools. A great feature of twins is not having to
store that stuff in the passenger cabin.
Flight controls of the Cougar are wellbalanced but heavier than a Travel Air or
Baron. This makes it a stable airplane for
instrument work. Landings with a forward
center of gravity require a noticeable amount
of back pressure.
Like most light twins, the Cougar is a dog
on one engine. Single-engine rate of climb
at gross weight is a paltry 200 feet per minute and single-engine service ceiling is 4,250
feet. That doesn't bring much comfort to
those flying in the Rockies, but the Cougar
should provide safe clearance of nearly all
terrain in the East.
Fuel management is a simple On/Off/
Crossfeed arrangement, which is mostly
pilot proof. Older twins such as the Travel
Air and Twin Comanche have more complicated setups. One nit to pick is inadequate
exterior lighting. There's only one landing
light and it's on the nose gear, which spends
most of the time retracted.
Smith, who makes many trips to Central
Florida from Pennsylvania, reports cruise
speeds of 155 to 160 knots burning 16 to 17

gallons per hour, which yields a flight time of
under five hours. "I can go a long way before
refueling if needed, which makes it easy to
tanker fuel if I am stopping at an airport with
cheaper fuel prices," he said.
N780GA has undergone extensive restoration since Smith bought the airplane in
2014. Florida Aero Paint in Lantana, Florida,
applied the paint using a design by Plane
Schemers. Interior and avionics were done
a little closer to Smith's home at the Donegal
Springs Airpark in Marietta, Pennsylvania,
by Advantage Interiors and Smart Avionics.
An air-to-air photo shoot with a
Beechcraft Bonanza A36 clearly exposed
how well the Cougar's designers met the
design goal of competing with the complex singles. The airplanes' performance
numbers are nearly identical in all phases
of flight, enough so that a formation takeoff and landing were performed, something
usually unheard of with radically different
airplane types. For a slight penalty in speed
and fuel burn, the Cougar offers nearly the
exact same performance with complete systems redundancy, affordable maintenance,
and a roomy, comfortable cabin.
AOPA
PETER A. BEDELL is a pilot for a major airline

and co-owner of a Cessna 172 and Beechcraft Baron.

Landing distance over 50-ft obstacle | 1,330 ft
Landing distance, ground roll | 710 ft
LIMITING AND RECOMMENDED AIRSPEEDS

VMC (min control w/critical engine inoperative)
| 61 KIAS
VX (best angle of climb) | 81 KIAS
VY (best rate of climb) | 95 KIAS
VXSE (best single-engine angle of climb) |
85 KIAS
VYSE (best single-engine rate of climb) |
85 KIAS
VA (design maneuvering) | 120 KIAS
VFE (max flap extended) | 145 KIAS
VLO (max gear operating)
Extend | 145 KIAS
Retract | 115 KIAS
VNO (max structural cruising) | 160 KIAS
VNE (never exceed) | 188 KIAS
VS1 (stall, clean) | 71 KIAS
VSO (stall, in landing configuration) | 63 KIAS
All specifications are based on manufacturer's calculations. All performance figures
are based on standard day, standard atmosphere, sea level, gross weight conditions
unless otherwise noted.
76 | AOPA PILOT January 2018

TANGARA TANGO

A FAN TRIES TO REVIVE THE COUGAR
When he was looking for a light twin, Wisconsin pilot Roger Murphy landed on the Cougar. He bought
serial number GA70030, flew the airplane, "and loved every minute," he said. He learned that Gulfstream
American sold the type certificate to Socata, which in 1995 announced it would use the Cougar as the
basis for the TB320 Tangara-and, replacing the two Lycoming O-320s with 180-horsepower O-360s, an
upgraded TB360. Later Socata announced the program was indefinitely delayed.
"Loving the plane, I continued my research and made contact with Socata in 2009, asking if the
assets could be purchased," Murphy said. "During the next few years I was in negotiations to purchase all
the assets." His goal was simple; with new factory twins running from $600,000 to $1.2 million, producing a kit for an Experimental Cougar could bring down the cost of multiengine training.
After eight years of discussions, in 2017 he reached an agreement with Socata successor Daher to
purchase the type certificate, engineering and manufacturing documentation, manufacturing fixtures and
tooling, and one remaining prototype (a modified Gulfstream American Cougar). This would cost Murphy
his Cougar, his half of a 50-by-60-foot hangar, five acres of riverfront land, and a chunk of his savings. He
planned to start making parts, produce and build a kit Cougar, and launch the kitplane twin at Oshkosh.
He, his wife, and their son-a composites design engineer-went to France, prepared to ship four
40-foot shipping containers of fixtures and metal stamping dies back to the United States. "We found the
major fixtures to be contaminated far worse than I ever imagined could happen," Murphy explained. "The
aluminum was flaking and algae was into the minute cracks." They estimated replacing the fixtures would
cost $3 million to $7 million-and add three to seven years to the project.
They considered seeking a supplemental type certificate for the O-360 engine upgrade installed on
the remaining Tangara prototype, but the engine logs had been lost when the project was abandoned,
requiring that both be overhauled. Fuel tanks were leaking and had to be resealed. A bent rudder bell
crank had to be replaced or repaired. "Although these don't sound bad, driving these from 4,000 miles
away would be a major undertaking," Murphy said. Ultimately, he decided he had no choice but to walk
away from the deal. "Everything was abandoned there," Murphy said. There will be no Cougar production, kit or otherwise.
-Mike Collins

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

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