What kinda airplane would you buy?

M

meritflyer

Well-Known Member
If you were looking for an airplane to purchase for family/business use doing alot of IFR cross countries and alot of night flying which would you choose?

Consider mx, safety, speed, weather capabilites, and comfort.

See poll.

Any thoughts welcome.
 
meritflyer said:
alot of IFR cross countries and alot of night flying which would you choose?
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This has twin written all over it. I know the stats, but in the clouds over mountains and especially at night I'd take an extra engine over paying for a little extra fuel anyday.

I would personally get a twin Comanche or similar and make sure I can run auto-gas in it.

With the family skyhawk I would put six 5gal jugs into my honda and think of the 6 x 5 x $1.50 = $45 per car trip to the gas station I was saving!
 
NEITHER! I know you have more density issues then I do, but I thought about a turbo and decided against it for inital investment and maintenance.

SR20! Great for the 250nm business trip, fun for family. Best part, fuel efficent to take up for 1.1 on a nice afternoon!!! PM if you have more specific as I am living this!
 
You can't just look at fuel costs when you're thinking twin. Twins tend to have a lot more MX costs associsted with them. Toss in the retractable gear, and you've got some issues. Plus, some twins are actually SLOWER than turbocharged singles. I used to routinely outrun people at Skymates in the Arrow when they were flying the Seminole. Something like a Cirrus would blow the doors off a Nole, too, for lower mx costs.

As for the mountains.....uh, he did say "turbocharged." :) One of my students had a turbocharged Bonanza, and we got that thing up high enough to put on the O2 masks. Never did that in a twin.
 
I saw this on the AOPA site earlier, 350 horsies!! If they put a Thielert turbo Diesel in it I imagine the fuel costs will be really small.

Diamond Super Star makes maiden flight

A new Diamond is flying in Austria. The DA50 Super Star went from concept to first flight in less than 11 months. Not much is known about the airplane, but with a 350-horsepower twin turbocharged engine, it should go fast. A turbodiesel engine will also be offered. The five-seat airplane has a maximum takeoff weight of 3,670 pounds. Diamond CEO and owner Christian Dries, along with another employee, was at the controls on April 4 for the maiden flight. The company has planned an aggressive certification program and wants to begin production no later than January 2008.

070409diamond.jpg
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meritflyer said:
If you were looking for an airplane to purchase for family/business use doing alot of IFR cross countries and alot of night flying which would you choose?

Consider mx, safety, speed, weather capabilites, and comfort.
Click to expand...

Mx -- Mx is going to be pretty spendy on either option, although more so on a twin. How much are you willing to spend on an annual?

Safety -- What do you consider safe? The reality is that both types of aircraft are fairly safe. I'd fly my family in either without hesitation. However, either can be more dangerous than the other, depending on conditions. In a single, an engine failure in the clouds could get pretty hairy. In a light twin, an engine failure two seconds after rotation could get pretty hairy. Pick your poison.

Speed -- Probably a turbocharged single will get you there a little faster, but it depends what single vs. what twin to say for sure which is faster. You could get a twin to outrun most singles or a single that outruns most twins.

Weather capabilities -- Where do you fly? Will there be ice? Will there be thunderstorms? Do you need to cross mountains in poor weather? There's a lot to think about here. Do you need it to be certified for flight into known ice? Do you need radar? Do you need a high service ceiling?

Comfort -- For who? Just you? Or you and five friends? Would you be willing to wear oxygen, or would that be too uncomfortable? If you're talking about hauling large loads, get a twin. If it's just you and you're willing to wear oxygen up high, get a single.
 
meritflyer said:
If you were looking for an airplane to purchase for family/business use doing alot of IFR cross countries and alot of night flying which would you choose?

Consider mx, safety, speed, weather capabilites, and comfort.

See poll.

Any thoughts welcome.
Click to expand...


The thought of owning an airplane makes me cringe. Death trap city. If I was rich, I'd still go the Tiger Woods way, just rent. No headaches.
 
ComplexHiAv8r said:
NEITHER! I know you have more density issues then I do, but I thought about a turbo and decided against it for inital investment and maintenance.
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Wont buy normally aspirated. I've owned a turbocharged plane and all of the talk about mx and harder to fly is watercooler talk.
 
Well, I've discussed what airplane I eventually wanna buy, and Nessa's already given me the thumbs up if/when we can afford it.

texan_enlarge.jpg
 
meritflyer said:
Wont buy normally aspirated.
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Oh...so any twin you get would be turbocharged?

In that case, how much money do you feel like dropping? If you can afford a twin, buy a twin. If not, buy a single.

All things being equal, a turbocharged twin will be better in every way than a turbocharged single (safety, speed, wx capabilities, and comfort). Maintenance and insurance will cost significantly more, but that's a question confined strictly to your budget.
 
Why does the TC single have to be new?

New cessnas always seemed like such a waste of money to me. The new 182 (NA) has the same useful load as an older 172, all the models have become bloated. I know because I spent alot of time playing with numbers (performance and money numbers) to talk a student of mine out of a new cessna.

If you like cessna I'd get an older TC RG model, sure the maintenance would be more but the interest on all that money you saved could probably make up for it!
 
Something simple for me. I get enough EFIS at work. Something basic (easy to maintain), slow (so I can enjoy the view) and STOL (so I can land anywhere I damned well please) is what I'm after.

G1000 on a piston is like a trunk wing and a big tailpipe on a Honda.
 
Doug Taylor said:
G1000 on a piston is like a trunk wing and a big tailpipe on a Honda.
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Awesome quote. That one is a keeper.

When I hear pilots talking about buying G1000 pistons the first thing I usually ask is "how many more hours untill you get your private?"
 
I dont' want all that glass in a plane that I own.

Maybe I'm weird but non-commercial single-pilot IFR is nuts, single-pilot single-engine IFR is even crazier. So what's the point of the glass?

I can play with a Nav display at work.
 
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