I was just dreaming in Trade a Plane. I think the RV would be a great plane,
but you might check a Lancair 320 or 360. Several are equipped IFR, they
have a high wing loading. We have two in our EAA chapter. From the talk they
fly honest, but the laminar flow wing quits flying when it quits flying.

Also, you might take a look a BD-4 if you can find one. It is tube and
fabric and there are not many copies, I understand that it was a fine plane
that was done in by the BD-5 fiasco.

Cheers
Jeff
"Jim Harper" wrote in message
om...
Hello! I originally posted this on rec aviation owning, and think that
I should come to this august group for thoughts:

The original post was:

Hi. I already have some thoughts on this, and am not a total innocent
in these matters. I am just sort of curious about how this group of
posters would think on my problem.

I work in Montgomery, Alabama. I would like to move to Duluth, GA. The
airport there (LZU) is 15 miles from where I want to live. My job is
around 3 miles from the airport (MGM) in Montgomery. The two airports
are 158nm apart.

I am a 1000 hour private pilot (selg) with a fresh IFR rating. Much of
my time is in gliders, but I am current in high performance.

Figure a budget of around $100K to buy an airplane. I don't need 4
seats, so right now I am toying with the idea of one of the homebuilt
very fast 2 seaters...200mph would make the commute faster. I can
afford the insurance, and understand that I would be burning a fair
amount of fuel...I can afford that too.

Would you consider it? What airplane would YOU choose?

Thanks for your imput. No, I am not a troll...this is a real
question.

After thoughts and a few responses, I have evolved my position to
something that looks like this (there were several comments on what
would I do if I couldn't fly the commute.addressed here.

Thanks, Dale...and to those who previously posted and added info. Let
us continue the discussion. Regarding flexibility and
reliability...the trip isn't so outlandish that I couldn't drive from
LZU to MGM in the morning. I'm the Chief (:-) ) and if I'm a half-hour
late or so, no sweat. Coming back to LZU (afternoon Tstorms)...well, I
could keep my apartment in Montgomery, or sleep in my office...and as
far as that goes, I can afford a motel, should that be the best
choice. I have a week off every 5 weeks, and that should help me deal
with scheduled maintenance...and if there is unscheduled...well, see
my weather plans...motel, office...maybe keep my current Apt for a
while.

As far as equipment, how about I throw out this one: Van's
homebuilt...RV series. There are 4 for sale that are IFR certified on
TOP right now, top price is around $84K...down to $50K or so. That is
a pretty honest 180-200MPH airplane, would be an interesting IFR
platform...but they are reputed to be stable and have well balanced
controls. This is, of course, an aluminum airplane. By the way, to my
best understanding, getting the FSDO to change an experimental
aircraft's certification from VFR only to IFR and VFR requires,
essentially, the correct equipment AND convincing information that any
other example has received the certification, so the fact that there
are 4 implies that any COULD be modified as necessary.

My mission will be me...or me and my lady, with minimal baggage,
flying either the commute or other longer-legged vacation trips (see 1
week in 5 off). I already own a homebuilt glider (HP-16 (also
aluminum)) and am delighted with it. I'm in a glider club with several
A&P friends and a AI as well, so I have resources available, and am
experienced with the care and feeding of a homebuilt. I have extensive
experience with taildraggers, so I don't need the -a version
(tricycle), and anyway, a brief perusal of the NTSB data base shows
more landing accidents with the tri-geared version than the
conventional.

So, what do y'all think? Assuming you want to comment. I am looking
forward to your thoughts! Thanks!

Jim