Why on earth....

[stuckingfk]

would anyone buy an Extra 500?

I read the article about the new Extra 500 in Flying Mag this weekend and no wonder aviation companies are going out of business.

Look at these specs for 1.6 million:

6 Seats
1650 useful load
471 lb full fuel payload
176 gallons
220 kts max cruise at 15,000 ft with 90% power at 31 gph
210 kts max cruise at FL250 with 75% power at 21 gph
1700 feet max rate of climb

Now looking at these figures, who on earth in their right mind would buy this crap. They failed miserable with the Extra 400, and all they did was put a Rolls Royce turbroprop in it.

Now granted, I know people use aircraft for their needs, but lets see if I can't name a few other aircraft that are either cheaper, or a helluva lot better for around the same price.

Piper Meridian selling for 1.8 million

6 seats
260 kt max cruise
1740 lb useful load
1000+ nm range
Much more room inside the cabin

Silver Eagle 210 for around $600,000 - $800,000

Not sure on the exact specs on all (rough estimate)

6 seats
1000+ NM range
210-220 kts cruise speed
payload increase over stock P210

The 210 has some great room in it too, more than the 500

What does everyone think?

 

[montanapilot]

yeah i saw that 471 payload with full fuel and thought, "you gotta be sh*ttn me" What a joke.

 

[Tommay85]

That thing looks like it got hit with the ugly stick too.

Tom

 

[Guest]

[ QUOTE ]
That thing looks like it got hit with the ugly stick too.

Tom

[/ QUOTE ]

You got that right

 

[RiddlePilot]

I was kind of thrown off by the full fuel payload at first, but then I realized that this really isn't too bad. According to your numbers, you'd have an endurance of roughly 8 hours at 75% power, and about 5-1/2 hours at 90% power. For most applications, that high of an endurance is probably unnecessary. If they were to fill it up to say, 100 gallons or less (still almost 5 hours at 75% power), you could weigh it down with extra people and baggage pretty easily.

Definitely the Meridian looks like more bang for the buck (speed-wise), but the Extra doesn't look half bad. Plus, I think it looks sexy.

 

[kellwolf]

What are the numbers as far as fuel efficiency? With prices the way they are, that could be a big selling point for them.