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Old 21st April 2014 | 07:28
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Pirke
 
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 159
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From: Netherlands
Thanks for the replies so far.

I'm aware of the SID inspections, and if it's necessary for safe flight (which I suspect it really is) then so be it. Preferrably they've already been done of course.

I haven't really considered a DR400 yet. How does the maintenance compare to a ATL or Cessna?

As I mentioned, for most of my flying 2 seats is good enough, and we usually don't need the extra baggage space. The 2 extra seats would mainly be a bigger advantage for renting it out. A 182 is in that sence too much plane compared to a 172 and too expensive. Avgas is 3 euro/liter, mogas "only" 2.

For annual fixed costs my estimates are around 10k. These are largely independent of the type, but maintenance can be a tricky one. That's why I really want a good pre buy inspection.

As I can't look into the future I don't know what my flying behavior will become. I do know that I want to own a plane, this has always been a dream and I can afford it even without renting it out if I don't get surprise maintenance of 10k each year on top of my estimated fixed costs. Once or twice can happen, but at some point if it keeps being a maintenance drain then the fun will stop. A $100 burger can easily become a $1000 burger that way.

What's the short field performance of a DR400-140B? And what would the initial purchase cost be for a good one?
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