What is the single-engine small plane with the best range?

As it seems with all of General Aviation, the best bang for the buck
is not in the certified aircraft. I can't say that I'm intimate the the
make, but it seems like a long-eze could do the job nicely.

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

Frank Stutzman wrote:
: As it seems with all of General Aviation, the best bang for the buck
: is not in the certified aircraft.

Sad, but true. With all the red tape and lawsuits, certified aircraft are a pain
in the *ss and stuck with 50 year old technology. That said, it seems like they actually
do hold up better and are more likely to just work when you get in to go somewhere.

-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

wrote in message
...
Frank Stutzman wrote:
: As it seems with all of General Aviation, the best bang for the buck
: is not in the certified aircraft.

Sad, but true. With all the red tape and lawsuits, certified aircraft are
a pain
in the *ss and stuck with 50 year old technology. That said, it seems
like they actually
do hold up better and are more likely to just work when you get in to go
somewhere.

Maybe the Diamond DA-40 TDi. Not on the budget though.
But range is good.

http://www.diamond-air.at/en/products/DA40/facts.htm

1100nm with the big tanks, I guess at reasonable speed.
2.4 USG/hour at 89kts, 3.2 @ 110kts, 4.9 @ 132kts.
Jet-A so here in Europe it's about 1/3 the price of avgas.
Seriously cheap flying if you discount the purchase cost.
At 89 knots it has an endurance of 17 hours. 1513nm.

Paul

Maybe the Diamond DA-40 TDi. Not on the budget though.
But range is good.

http://www.diamond-air.at/en/products/DA40/facts.htm

1100nm with the big tanks, I guess at reasonable speed.
2.4 USG/hour at 89kts, 3.2 @ 110kts, 4.9 @ 132kts.
Jet-A so here in Europe it's about 1/3 the price of avgas.
Seriously cheap flying if you discount the purchase cost.
At 89 knots it has an endurance of 17 hours. 1513nm.

Paul



I was actually thinking a qtr partnership in a Twin Star. Of course, an
older twin would be much less capital at the expense of operating costs and
more maintenance hassles. The thing is that after soloing, he will havea
much better perspective. Also, he will be able to talk to instructors and
pilots in the area.

I haven't looked at a map, but isn't he flying over sparcely inhabited
terrain with possible extreme cold temperatures? If he goes down, he could
be there a while. One of those new 408 mhz ELT's would likely be a
necessity.

Frank Stutzman wrote:

As it seems with all of General Aviation, the best bang for the buck
is not in the certified aircraft. I can't say that I'm intimate the the
make, but it seems like a long-eze could do the job nicely.


I was thinking of the same thing actually. But it really depends on what
he's doing.

For 40k he can get a nice Long-Ez, it has 1000nm+ range. 52 gal at 6gph
(o-235) at 150 knots is 8+ hours, or about 1000nm. If you want to go there
and back you build a spare tank for the back seat and hold over 100gal.
He's flying solo so there's a whole seat for storage, over top of the other
soft storage.

For that money I'm sure you could find a nice plane with an O-320 and boost
the speed up, but you'll pay for in range.

So all this is great, but what weather does he want to fly in? There's many
people why fly them IFR, I don't because that's not the reason I fly. They
don't do well in ice (ice gets into the hinges) and they don't like
lightening.

Is there gravel or grass involved? Home base isn't, but what about those
other airports?

But for the price? Hard to beat,

-Andrew

--
Andrew Stanley-Jones | "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
EE, LongEz N87KJ | -- Walt Disney