Aircraft N5500J

[JerEl]

I'm trying find a Cherokee Six (PA32-260) that I owned for a number of years and the last I've heard it was at the Kendall Tamiami Executive (TMB) in Miami, Fl.
If anyone is based at Tamiami and sees it I would appreciate a holler (and a picture would be nice).

I've found the corrected address of the registered owner and tried contacting him via regular mail and got no reply. It appears the registered owner is deceased and his son now lives at the residence and I assume he is the owner now. I don't believe the plane is in flyable condition but it hasn't been reported as junked.

I was one of the early members of the Wheelchair Pilots Assn. in 1970 and started with a Cherokee 180 but the chair took up the back seat (not modular as now) so I traded up to the Six which gave me full access to all six seats. Even took the private pilots exam in the Six.

The longest trip I made in it was from Dulles to San Juan which was covered in the media. The fiberglass prop spinner disintegrated over Titusville, Fl and my only emergency because I thought the engine exploded and because half of the spinner was still there the out of balance vibration was terrible. The half the spinner than came off hit the bottom of the engine housing, thank goodness. After cutting back to idle and noting all engine gauges were normal I made a dead stick landing where the mechanic removed the rest of the spinner and said, "You're cleared to go. The spinner isn't required on this model."

Well... Maybe the plane was ready but I wasn't. Finally an older pilot came up and said if I didn't get in it and fly right now I would probably never fly again. So shaken but proud of my mayday dead stick landing, off I went on my way to San Juan and replaced the spinner with a spun aluminum one when I returned home.

So this plane has a lot of sentimental value plus close to 1000 hours of flying her over the years and I sure would like to find her.