Help me decide what aircraft to buy.
 

Hi,

Im looking to buy a highperformence aircraft. Heres what im looking after:

• Cruise around 180-200 kts.
• Economical - Diesel engine preferably. (MOGAS is also ok)
• RG
• 2 seats.+
• Envelope around 6g. for utility cat.
• 50-100k $

Anyone know any airplanes that match these criterias? LSA/Light aircraft doesn't matter.

I know just the thing !
 

I can't remember the name of the aircraft but I do know that it is milled from billets of pure Unobtainium.

Do you want certified or permit?

A Lancair or a Falco would fit the bill on a permit.

Glasair maybe

Very good :D

A Long Eze might work. Less expensive than the budget but needs a hard runway of good length.

A Tucano should do the job. Just need to find another three quarters of a million quid.

D.O.

As A&C said......:(

You always have to have trade offs in whatever you desire. Some features may be more important than others. Having said that the SR-71 meets most of your requirements.

Cruise around 180-200 kts. (Check, 1,800 knot cruise, oh sorry, you said 180)
Economical - Diesel engine preferably. (MOGAS is also ok) (Check, if you own an oil well)
RG (Check)
2 seats.+ (Check)
Envelope around 6g. for utility cat. (Sorry, quite a bit less)
50-100k $ (Check, they were giving them away for free)

Some funny replies here.

Your specification is rather unrealistic.

Are you a pilot - do you know anything about aircraft? No 200kt airplane can be an LSA.

No 200kt airplane can be 'economic' in absolute terms - it can be economic compared to other 200kt airplanes.

Some of the airplanes suggested can sustain 200kts but not at a reasonable power setting - you'll eat your engine running over 75% - assuming that you want to make your TBO.

At non-oxygen levels you're not going to be able to run above 200kts - so I see you're in Norway - where are you planning to go where those sorts of speeds are going to be needed.

That said - here's an option Jet Provost - buy a good one for under $100,000 - Jet A1 - 200kts easy - 2 seats - 6g plus - RG - economic (not so much per hour - depends where you are - how many hours you fly - but with a little imagination you could get the cost down, rental to other would be TopGuns and for display and you may find you can generate a surplus to make your couple of dozen hours cost nothing).

Silly point but how close are to to the airport where it would be based, how close to your destination airport is your final destination. If the answer to both is an hour or so each end and your home airport/destination airport is short (under 200 miles) - the percentage time saving overall is minor for a 200kt compared to a 140kt - throw in some international travel and the benefit of speed reduces further.

Question of whether you can fly it will depend on a lot of factors and where you're planning to fly.

Overall - if you're planning long trips - all of Easy Jet's fleet will meet all of your criteria and so, so, so much cheaper!

You should look at a twin. That will be pretty much the only thing you can get in to that will go that fast under $100K. The very few singles that will do it are all over $100K and the list is short - Mooney, maybe. Diesel can be forgotten - it will be an old Avgas burner. A Piper Aerostar will get you to 200kts and can be had for just about $100K. So will a Beechcraft Duke. A turbo 310, a Seneca or a Baron might also get you there or at least close.

But much, much, much less fun!

Jonty
 

Being an easy jet commuter I have found over the last few weeks the prices creeping up to the point that if I fill all four seats on my DR400 it becomes more economic.

The added advantage is that I don't fail to get on my aircraft as I don't overbook like Easyjet.

Retuning to the thread, the specification is unrealistic with any foreseeable technology, the Falco would be the closest to the requirement simply because it falls short no all counts by less than the others.

So how are your flight time limitations if you commute to work?:confused::eek:

Tankengine
 

Not affected as my base is where I commute to by easy jet.

"Some of the airplanes suggested can sustain 200kts but not at a reasonable power setting - you'll eat your engine running over 75% - assuming that you want to make your TBO."

-Glasair III ( And i think i wrote 180-200 kts in my requirements.?)
75% at 8,000 ft 258 mph / 224 knots 65% at 8,000 ft 248 mph / 216 knots

"Are you a pilot - do you know anything about aircraft? No 200kt airplane can be an LSA."

- Yes I have hold my PPL certificate for almost 2 years now. Renewal coming up in May for SEP. However i did not know about the maximum speed for LSA, thanks for enlighting me!

"No 200kt airplane can be 'economic' in absolute terms - it can be economic compared to other 200kt airplanes."

- Well this depends on how you look at things. If i often visit my relatives in Sweden about 200 nm away. In a PA28 thats 5520 NOK. (calculating rougly 4 hours) there and back.

If i make the same trip with the same fuel cost in a Glasair i would cut my trip cost in half cruising at 8000 feet.

+ That i can run the Glasair on MOGAS.

"Overall - if you're planning long trips - all of Easy Jet's fleet will meet all of your criteria and so, so, so much cheaper! "

- Yes, and your point beeing? Thats like saying I can take the train instead of driving my car. I dont understand your argument.

In short looking at the Glasair III it would be the perfect aircraft except for the engine.

Yeah and you could use the jet provost to visit the house in the Bahamas your insurance agent bought with that bit fat cheque you wrote him for coverage. Not sure how the credit card swipe would work during air to air refuelling though.

We all started out trying to marry the very best attributes of different machines to get our"dream" plane, when we get right down to it the reality is price, insurance, flying skills, operating costs, utility and mission dictate that 95% of us (non lottery winners) end up with a 100 knot tops, under 200hp, lycoming or rotax in a 2 or 4 seat LSA or spamcam and that fits the bill just nicely. For the kind of money you are looking to spend the real decisions you will have to make is can I score a deal on a nice used plane that has the icing on the cake features such as CSP or sh&t hot avionics or even a low/zero time engine.

Good luck and remember there is a bunch of fun and knowledge to be had during the search for the aircraft.

buying a home build
 

If a Glassair is what you want be very carefull when you buy a home build.

A few years back we fixed a home build that had been imported from the USA, the build quality of the parts of this aircraft varied from just about good enough to death trapp and resulted in lots of extra work to make it safe and a good looking at from the LAA.

As an LAA inspector I have seen both the very best of workmanship and a compleat disregard of proper construction techniques, please look very carefully before parting with your money.

Yes i agree theres issues with buying homebuilt kitplanes.. Need to be very carefull indeed.