Bos and IFR in NZ
FTDK, you were invited to this conversation in my first post - see Question 7!! Admittedly, I spelt your moniker slightly wrong, but still...
It appears you just sleep in on Sundays more than the rest of us. I'm not sure where CC was, but it appears he, like me, may have been up at about 6am!!!
Anyway, re CC's comments on building the perfect aircraft, I’ve discovered many times now that one should “never say forever” when it comes to aircraft. So much as it might make sense to spend big bucks on the perfect engine and amortise over two decades of flying, well, I don’t know what I’ll want to be flying in two years let along two decades, so I don’t think that US$75K engine would be all that wise. The machine you picked out, though, CC, certainly looks pretty damn good. Although I wouldn’t have thought 1200 SMOH on engine would be exactly high time – surely a normally aspirated Continental like that is going to go to at least 1600, of not more, all things being equal? That’d be at least 3 years flying for me, given that it wouldn’t be my only aircraft, so probably no need to swap donks just yet. Still – would I be right in saying that one would be good for maybe 170 knots cruise anyway? And thank you for heeding my emotions and finding me a V-tail J
Re retrofitting a TN, I dunno, that extra 20 knots, or whatever, that you pick up through TN probably isn’t really worth it on a 400 NM trip. Yes, there’s fuel at both ends, and en route, but I’m a great fan of being able to take more fuel if you need to. NZ mountain flying conditions, VFR anyway, mean that the more endurance I have, the happier I feel. So tip tanks are a definite. Presumably they somehow add to GW by producing their own lift due aerofoil shape, or some such?
I feel just the same as you re new aircraft v older ones in good nick with new systems. I’ll chase up this particular Bo a little more. I notice it doesn’t seem to have any ice protection. Is ice protection the sort of thing one can reasonably retrofit, or is it also something you want the previous owner to have swallowed? Do these Bos have any built-in ice protection?
TLTF, I quite take your point about the freezing level and so on. Queenstown, in particular, is a difficult IFR environment too, so this makes it even harder. I guess I was thinking it might be a case of flying low VFR from QN to Alex, and taking it from there. I certainly don’t anticipate airline-style IFR trips from Queenstown to Otaki, but surely the ability to go IFR opens up different options, even in winter? I am not, in any way arguing with you – here to learn, so all comments welcomed…
And no, US$1.1 million is just a teeny bit out of my budget 
Speaking of budget, anything with a whirly-jet - a la Extra 500 - is WAY out of my league. Even a second hand Bonanza or similar is getting a bit silly, but, I dunno, how much would you pay to not see your girlfriend puke on your dog?
Last edited by lostpianoplayer; 15th Sep 2007 at 23:40.
Reason: update