Pilot wins £30m - What would you buy?

[reverserdeployed]

Picture the scene. You love flying. Your balls drop (on the lottery..) and you're £30m richer.

If you're a PPL you get your ATPL and if you're already an ATPL, you hang up your cap but decide to get yourself a nice shiny aircraft to fly yourself in.

After blowing a bit on big houses, lose women and a few Lamborghinis you have a look around for the perfect aircraft.

But what do you buy? Blow £20 million on a nice shiny new A320 or 737? Or lease a 747SP for those longer journeys and kit out the upper deck like Austin Powers? Or buy an old but very plush VIP 727 with a jacuzzi?

Basically, if you could buy any aircraft for your own use, what would it be and why???

[Flypuppy]

First thing I would buy is a nice big house somewhere remote with a nice chunk of land around it. I would then build a nice 2000m long runway which would also make up a section of the private race track. In the hanger would be 2 replica Mosquitos to keep the replica Spitfire Mk IX and P-51 company. Possibly a Cessna Citation 525 to go places. Alongside that would be a Twin Squirrel helicopter, Mrs FP has always wanted to learn to fly one you see.

In the garage I would have have a Lamborgini Diablo, Ferrari 345, Ducati 916SP and an Aprilia RSV mille (maybe a Honda Pan European as well for touring). I suppose I would have to have something sensible to go to the shops in like a Range Rover or maybe an Isuzu Impreza 555. I would have half a dozen Formula Ford single seater racing cars for when my chums come round for the weekend, so we can play on the race track.

I would build a nice wee distillery on the property somewhere producing a nice wee malt as well. I would give 100,000 quid to the PPRuNe fund and I would probably waste the rest of the money on aviation fuel.

[Whirlybird]

I'd buy one of those yachts that you can land a helicopter on, and the helicopter to go with it, and a tropical island somewhere to sail/fly them to - then I'd worry about what to do with the spare change.

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Whirly

To fly is human, to hover, divine.

[HugMonster]

I'd buy a DC-3, and go around all the parachute clubs I could find, land and park up, and sit in the door, waiting for all the skydivers to come wandering up, and say to them...

"No! $od off!" :)

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Breeding Per Dementia Unto Something Jolly Big, Toodle-pip

[tailscrape]

One word.

SPITFIRE.

Story.End of.

[SixDemonBag]

A Turbo Grumman Goose...for marine adventures

A Citation X...for carting my money around

A 747SP...Just to help reduce the money i have providing maintanence and suppling fuel (but it would be fun!)

A fleet of Mustangs...for myself and my friends so we could have dogfights (and so i could destroy the ones that had done wrong by me!)

Finally an angry palm tree (helicopter)...because hey, I too would like to learn how to fly the damn thing too!

This choice is just today...I'm sure others will spring to mind :)

[SixDemonBag]

oppss

[This message has been edited by SixDemonBag (edited 14 December 2000).]

[ET]

Mosquito, without a doubt. Long range in the weeds with a heavy load. 2 huge props ripping the air, pulling you at 400 kts+, What could be better.

[BIK_116.80]

Um, how 'bout a coupla Titan missiles, second hand ones left over from the cold war - get em on the cheap. Strap a Learjet cockpit on the top and borrow a space suit from a retired astronaut mate. Whack an "EXPERIMENTAL" sticker on it just above the door and away-we-go-now!

[Unwell_Raptor]

Spend 15 million on racehorses, women, and yachts. 10 million on the all-time Concorde round the world charter with a few pals. 4.5 million on roulette and blackjack. 450K on a really serious wine cellar.

The rest I would just squander.

[ratbag]

A very big turnip.

[twistedenginestarter]

I really like those shiny Citation Xs. Fancy flight deck and it does Mach .98 so you can overtake everybody.

However let's get serious. If it's a choice of that or 30 million quids worth of Thai girls with their homemade coconut oil. No contest...

[BIK_116.80]

Isn't the Citation X Mmo 0.92?

[rightstuffer]

...so he can afford to over-stress it a bit....!

[BJBATMAN]

A 50ft Sailboat!!!!!!!!!!!!

[twistedenginestarter]

I stand corrected. Mach 0.91 is your top speed for the Citation X.

You'll still beat everyone else away from the traffic lights...and the instruments are better than a Playstation 2.

What I didn't say is they don't cost anywhere near 30 million so....

How many Thai girls can you get in a Citation X or is that for the Technical Forum?

[Genghis the Engineer]

I would buy a disused airfield, build a large house and much larger workshop and hangar on it. I would then spend the rest of my life designing, building, and flying my own aeroplanes.

I plan to design a 200 knot tourer that will fly successfully from 300m farmstrips. But to play with, a Harvard will keep me entertained until some second hand BAe Hawks come on the market.

G