I agree that for really good performance and ok cost,
a nice big turbine is a neat deal. A lot of cropdusters
have gone from the radials to the turbines for performance/cost
reasons.

At 15:31 04 April 2005, 1jh wrote:
Roy wrote:
Our operation has started the hunt for a new towplane.
The main criteria is that from our 2200ft strip at
sea level we need
to have a two seater (janus) 'over the fence' at 300ft
in still air.

What would you recommend?
Dont dwell on purchase cost but rather performance/running
costs

We would consider
a) Used
b) New
c) Experimental/anything else.

Thanks for your thorts.

If performance is your only criteria, the following
should be
considered. A 450 Steerman, a 650 Steerman or a 400
or turbine Piper
Brave. These are all crop dusters so you have to be
careful what you
buy. The wings time out on the Brave and require major
repair at that
time. The performance is directly proportional to the
cost of operation
in just about the following order turbine Brave, 650,
450 and 400
Brave. The 650 Steerman with full power at sea level
will make you
think you are on a winch. There are a lot of Braves
available at
reasonable cost but see previous.


Mark J. Boyd