Aussie Aircraft Thread

Only a BTC would consider a new one, but a 2000-2008 model (you want a post 1999 one - stronger wing) isn't ridiculously expensive.

Or, for half the price a 2000-2005 Saratoga would also do what we need.

One thing to remember with buying aircraft is that you should always buy two seats more than you need.
Light aircraft are basically useless when you fill the seats.
So, a six-seater is really a four-seater and a four-seater is really a two-seater if you actually want to go anywhere.

 

That’s been for sale for quite some time.
Almost, but not quite perfect spec as far as I’m concerned.

 

Why then plan over an area where fog is likely / forecast?

You could plan around it on that one in 50 day where that might happen.

But on every single flight in a twin you’re twice as likely to have an engine failure, and if you do, more likely to die as a result.
Not to mention on every flight you’re paying for twice as much fuel, twice as much allowance for engine / prop overhaul.
More for recurrent training (which is essential if you want to be safe), etc. etc.

For about ten years early in my flying career I virtually refused to fly a single. My logbook shows this.
Part of it - Ok. Most of it - was ego. I just thought twins were cooler, and I believed the BS from decades ago that more engines = safer.

However the truth is the opposite. It can take some time to come to this understanding and why that is.

But it is.

 

That would be nice, but from an aesthetic point of view I prefer the “classic” fin and rudder.

That’s why a MK V or early Mk IX with that config would be preferable.

But I’m just being fussy. I’m shore I could put up with it if I had to…

 

That’s where Greg comes in.

My guess is it’d be similar to a small bizjet in terms of cost / hour to run.
So, $2-4k / hour.

But that’s only a guess. Perhaps I16 could chime in here?

 

No, that’d be everything.

Fuel, maintenance, insurance, hangerage, etc.

A bizjet like one of the small Citations should be around $3k / hour.
My guess (I don’t know) is that our PC24 is around $5k / hour.

I can’t see a Spitfire costing more than that to run, and a P-51 would probably be less.

 

It’s no different to any other profession.
If you do it every day for years and years it becomes second nature.
By the time someone is flying around in single pilot bizjets or captaining airliners they’ve been doing the pilot thing for a very long time indeed.
Occasionally I have someone (a non-pilot) up the front in the co-pilot seat for whatever reason. I try to talk them through what I’m doing and why, but I sometimes think they must wonder what all the fuss is about. It probably looks very easy indeed, but it’s one of those things that mostly is happening inside the pilots mind (as you know).

Likewise, I can’t get my head around how other professionals do what they do, be it doctors, surgeons, lawyers, mechanics, electricians, miners, whatever. It’s all another world to me.

 

I’d just add (and Gayry would know this even more than me, I suspect) that I’m subject to constant check flights (something like eight per year in my case) involving emergency scenarios including actual single engine instrument approaches / go arounds in the aircraft, not the sim.
Also yearly theory exams, cabin safety training, and many other things means that barely a month goes by where I’m not being checked / assessed by the training and checking department and honing my skills.
And they’re not shy about telling me when I **** something up or need to improve, even after 30 years and 10,000+ hours!

My point being that if you want to fly multi-engine IFR to actually go places it’s a big step up from day VFR fun flying.

With the right attitude and some effort anyone can do it, and with regular flying and recurrent training it is very safe.

Get stuck into the IFR and it opens up a whole new world which is wonderful and very satisfying.

Do it. I’ll be interested to follow your progress.

 

Fixed