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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute



 
 
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  #11  
Old July 8th 08, 02:43 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
denny
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Posts: 14
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

On Jul 7, 5:35�pm, es330td wrote:
On Jul 7, 2:04�pm, John Smith wrote:








I'm not scratching any reasonable plane off my list just yet; in fact,

this doesn't become viable until I get my IFR ticket which is at least
a year off. �It doesn't hurt to start educating myself because I can
always start building even before I am ready for cross country
commuting.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


When you start your IFR training and flying you will really learn
about the old saying "the only time you can have too much fuel on
board is when you are on fire". Plan on at least a 20 knot headwind
on some of those westbound trips, and add in the range and time to
your alternate, plus a 45 minute (minimum). Suddenly your airplane is
much less capable and your normal 700 nm range requires a fuel stop
somewhere between A and B, or GA and TX . Fuel starvation is still a
leading cause of accidents. Buying big enough tanks for your mission
helps your odds.

Denny
  #12  
Old July 8th 08, 03:37 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Lou
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Posts: 403
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

On Jul 7, 4:35 pm, es330td wrote:
On Jul 7, 2:04 pm, John Smith wrote:



es330td wrote:
My mission requirements are a 700 nm range with reserve and a flight
time under 4 hours facing occasional IMC weather as I will be flying
between GA and east Texas. I'd also prefer something with as low a
fuel burn as possible for cost savings.


Michael Henry wrote:


Vans RV-7 -http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv-7int.htm
Vans RV-8 also meets the speed and range requirements but as a tandem
may not have enough panel space for IFR.


I would recommend a Van's RV for several reasons:
- excellent builder support along your route (RV builders area
everywhere)
- excellent aircraft for high-speed cruise, low fuel consumption,
low-airspeed takeoffs and landings at short fields, providing more
options


IIRC, there are more RV's out there than any other homebuilt. Before I
posted I checked out the -7 but was a little concerned about the
range. According to AIRNAV, the distance between my airports of
interest is 684 nm direct and my path takes me through/around the
general aviator's Hell that is Hartsfield-Jackson. They aren't always
accomodating to GA IFR pilots and will route you all over the place.
Depending on whether I am coming or going, if I am VFR I can just
cancel and fly under the class B or file a pop-up IFR but if I have to
take off or land in IMC I have to let them send me where they will.
With a 775 sm range at 75% power on the -7 I start running into
problems of getting low on fuel and pushing into my reserve if the
flight encounters any kind of rerouting. I can, of course, slow down
but now I start getting over 4 hours and given that a lot of my flying
would be early evening I'd rather not push myself.

I'm not scratching any reasonable plane off my list just yet; in fact,
this doesn't become viable until I get my IFR ticket which is at least
a year off. It doesn't hurt to start educating myself because I can
always start building even before I am ready for cross country
commuting.


What about adding additional tanks for the commute?
After all it is experimental

Lou
  #13  
Old July 8th 08, 03:44 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
es330td
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Posts: 96
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

On Jul 7, 6:32*pm, Bob Fry wrote:

Just curious, any build will take a year or two at least, will you
have time for this living away from home?
--


Living by myself, I think I should. I am assuming that the time I
spend now on the "honey-do" list at home (lawn, dishes, errands) will
be mine since I simply won't be there. I usually spend an hour or so
each night playing with my kids so I get that time back too. I am most
likely going to go with something that is kit built, rather than plans
built, to reduce my build time. I am not going to be one of the
homebuilders that in reality pays somebody to build a plane but I am
going to base my choice in part on getting one that I can buy major
pieces already constructed so this rules out the Cozy. I know someone
at both airports who is an A&P mechanic so I'll have expertise
available for hire as needed. Even if it takes me 3 years, I still
get an airplane at the end of it.
  #14  
Old July 8th 08, 05:24 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Ron Wanttaja
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Posts: 756
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:32:08 +0800, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

have you ever realised that the fuel caps come off pretty easily.
you could refuel enroute :-)


http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/longrange.jpg

Ron Wanttaja
  #15  
Old July 8th 08, 05:25 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Peter Dohm
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Posts: 1,754
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

"es330td" wrote in message
...
On Jul 7, 6:32 pm, Bob Fry wrote:

Just curious, any build will take a year or two at least, will you
have time for this living away from home?
--


Living by myself, I think I should. I am assuming that the time I
spend now on the "honey-do" list at home (lawn, dishes, errands) will
be mine since I simply won't be there. I usually spend an hour or so
each night playing with my kids so I get that time back too. I am most
likely going to go with something that is kit built, rather than plans
built, to reduce my build time. I am not going to be one of the
homebuilders that in reality pays somebody to build a plane but I am
going to base my choice in part on getting one that I can buy major
pieces already constructed so this rules out the Cozy. I know someone
at both airports who is an A&P mechanic so I'll have expertise
available for hire as needed. Even if it takes me 3 years, I still
get an airplane at the end of it.

___________new messages begins___________

It appears that you might be moving both to and from locations with multiple
EAA chapters, and they are a very good source of second hand experience.
Visit each chapter a couple of times; because every member does not attend
every meeting. You can then gain a lot of additional information by
visiting some of the builders and/or participating in the chapter's "hangar
invasions".

As to some of wheat you might look for:
1 Kits are not all equal--some kits take more time than some plans and
some need different kinds of workspace.
2 Builders are not all equal--both skills and priorities vary. Some
builders have good three dimensional thinking and manufacturing skills--and
they can build a good solid aircraft in a few hundred hours. Others will
spend a tremendous amount of time staring at the project and reinventing one
wheel after another--so that the project takes thousands of hours if it is
ever finished.

All the best for your project--even if you only buy a slower airplane are
convert part of what would have been your building time to be used as
commuting time instead.

Peter



  #16  
Old July 8th 08, 07:36 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Gig 601Xl Builder
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Posts: 683
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

es330td wrote:
On Jul 7, 6:32 pm, Bob Fry wrote:
Just curious, any build will take a year or two at least, will you
have time for this living away from home?
--


Living by myself, I think I should. I am assuming that the time I
spend now on the "honey-do" list at home (lawn, dishes, errands) will
be mine since I simply won't be there. I usually spend an hour or so
each night playing with my kids so I get that time back too. I am most
likely going to go with something that is kit built, rather than plans
built, to reduce my build time. I am not going to be one of the
homebuilders that in reality pays somebody to build a plane but I am
going to base my choice in part on getting one that I can buy major
pieces already constructed so this rules out the Cozy. I know someone
at both airports who is an A&P mechanic so I'll have expertise
available for hire as needed. Even if it takes me 3 years, I still
get an airplane at the end of it.


That last sentence you wrote is as close as I've seen you say the one
thing you need to say before you start a build project but it isn't
quite there yet.

Building itself needs to be one of your goals otherwise you probably
won't ever finish and then at the end of 3 years you will have a pile of
very expensive aluminum.

The old saying "If you want to build, build. If you want to fly, buy."
is as true as it ever was even if the quick build kits make the building
easier.

  #17  
Old July 9th 08, 02:06 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
denny
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Posts: 14
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

On Jul 7, 1:48�am, es330td wrote:
I
Are there any good alternatives outside the canard family?

This discussion seems to have come down to whether you should
build with aluminum or composites, leaving out wood and tube &
fabric. The way I see it, if you build your own composite airplane,
you are the manufacturer and should be pretty good at repairing hanger
rash by the time you are ready to fly. I know of at least one
compostite airplane that flipped over and was damaged, as one would
expect. The spar and wings were intact. The insurance adjuster said
repair it. Had it been an aluminum airplane he would have scrapped
it. What does all this prove? Not much. If one method was clearly
superior, the other would disappear. Sunlight may not bother
aluminum, but corrosion sure does. Until we start mining
nonobtainium, you're stuck with compromises. Take your pick.
More important in picking your plane is your mission
requirement. When you start your IFR training you will find the true
meaning of the old saying "The only time you can have too much fuel on
board is when you are on fire". You need to plan on at least a 20
knot headwind for some of those trips to TX, sometimes both ways,
(like the day you actually get to go). If the destination is imc, you
need altenate fuel plus 45 minute reserve (minimum). If you have a
barely 700 nm, no wind, VFR range, you will need to make an enroute
fuel stop on some trips. A five hour duration becomes more like three
if you have to plan the whole trip IFR. Better to land with two hours
fuel in your tanks than zero while diverting. Fuel exhaustion is
still a leading cause of accidents. Your four hour trip just became
closer to six.
Good luck in your research.

Denny
  #18  
Old July 9th 08, 02:36 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
john smith
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Posts: 1,446
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

Have you given Budd Davidson's BEARHAWK a look?

http://www.bearhawkaircraft.com/
  #19  
Old July 9th 08, 03:11 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
cavelamb himself[_4_]
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Posts: 474
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

Morgans wrote:

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/longrange.jpg



Oh, I see you must have the model with the refueling probe in the spinner,
huh? g



No, it uses an interupter gear that only squirts between the prop blades.
  #20  
Old July 9th 08, 03:12 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Morgans[_2_]
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Posts: 3,924
Default Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute


"Ron Wanttaja" wrote

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/longrange.jpg


Oh, I see you must have the model with the refueling probe in the spinner,
huh? g
--
Jim in NC


 




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