EDLB Dream on about your ceiling of 18'000 ft. With the downgraded engines (500 instead of 750 hp) it would be difficult to coax it over 12'000 ft even on a standard day. By the way, we had 3 fatal accidents in Switzerland in the last 3 weeks, all with the same pattern: hot, high, unable to get over the next obstacle, spun into the deck. 28 dead. Really sad. Heat is a killer even if it shows a pretty face compared with other perils for VFR flights like bad visibility or high winds.