Originally Posted by
Sam Rutherford
Whilst not nullifying your comments, three pax can be as distracting as five - and 150kts is likely to be only 20-30kts faster than the four seat they might otherwise buy. Your 180kts example is a considerably more significant (50%) increase on 120kts...
You should also be careful about buying something you might 'grow out of' very quickly.
Buy the higher performance aircraft, and invest in a 'bring along instructor' (or indeed any experienced pilot) for the first few long trips. I guarantee they'll charge little to nothing if it's a fun trip...
I used to fly as safety pilot for a businessman who bought his first aircraft ( T303 ) he built up his experience and became very competent pilot he never stopped taking me along though ( there’s a reason airlines use two pilots and believe me a holiday jet is much easier to fly than a light aircraft in Europe’s weather )
In just a few years I’ve seen too many cars parked at the flying club waiting for their owners to come back from a flight, they never returned.
look on the internet for Beech Bonanza or piper pa31 accidents.
take a safety pilot !