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#21
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
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. And the pilot catches the fuel in the mouth, and spits it into the tank! :-) Good comeback, and quick, too, by the way! -- Jim in NC |
#22
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
"John Smith" wrote Have you given Budd Davidson's BEARHAWK a look? http://www.bearhawkaircraft.com/ The problem is that you have to be using the 260 HP engine to get that 150 MPH, where you could be doing closer to 200 MPH (or more) on a 180 HP engine. With fuel prices, that would be a significant difference. -- Jim in NC |
#23
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
Morgans wrote:
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. And the pilot catches the fuel in the mouth, and spits it into the tank! :-) Good comeback, and quick, too, by the way! Aw, the place was getting a little dull, you know? |
#24
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
" With fuel prices, that would be a significant difference. -- Jim in NC Following that I would suggest Airtran to DFW. They can handle almost any weather that you couldn't and a ticket is about the same as 25 gal of avgas. Alot more practical and a lot less likely to make a smoking hole due to got to get there pressure. If you want to fly a homebuilt do it, just don't try to reliably commute in it. My 2 cents worth. Jim Stockton |
#25
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
On Jul 16, 8:57*pm, "Jim Stockton" me@nowhere wrote:
" With fuel prices, that would be a significant difference. -- Jim in NC Following that I would suggest Airtran to DFW. They can handle almost any weather that you couldn't and a ticket is about the same as 25 gal of avgas. Alot more practical and a lot less likely to make a smoking hole due to got to get there pressure. If you want to fly a homebuilt do it, just don't try to reliably commute in it. My 2 cents worth. Jim Stockton Many people use both spam cans and homebuilts to commute. There is no reason that a homebuilt would be any less reliable than any other aircraft if properly constructed. Either way, it must be considered that commuting with any private aircraft is highly dependent on weather factors. Considering the miserable record of commercial airlines over the last few years, I wouldn't consider private aircraft commuting any less reliable than commercial. I have commuted by commercial airlines many years ago with great success but times have changed. First, my commute was between to fairly close cities with major carrier service and hourly flights between the destinations. I wouldn't consider trying it today. I had to do the commute for about 18 months a couple of years ago and found it much quicker to just drive the 260 miles. A longer commute as discussed by the originator of this thread would not be possible to drive but private aircraft would take about the same about of time that I spent driving. That from a time standpoint would be less than required for commercial even if you were guaranteed catching a flight that met your schedule. The biggest problem by far would be finding a commercial schedule that would meet the requirements for timely commutes. Unless the origin and destination are major cities with routine and frequent direct schedules between them, commuting by commercial airlines would be more time consuming that it was worth. I see no reason why a 700nm commute by private aircraft including a mission capable homebuilt would not be a highly reliable choice. |
#26
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
While the RV series and many Composite designs are great, don'g
overlook the W-10 Tailwind. I believe an O-320 powered one has beaten many RV's of higher power in the recent OSH races. Using an O-200 or O-235, they are almost as fast....just don't climb as well in the Rockies. Which you don't need on your route. Construction is about as straight forward as you can get and very economical. Modifications by Jim Clement have really improved the first "approved" two seat homebuilt. And there is a tri-gear version. |
#27
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
.. --
. If you want to fly a homebuilt do it, just don't try to reliably commute in it. My 2 cents worth. Jim Stockton I built my airplane to use as a business tool for travel as a field service technician. I used to travel out of Atlanta, KATL in my passenger days. My experimental, amateur built airplane was more reliable, cheaper, and was faster than the airlines if you considered door-to-door travel time. On a typical one hour airline flight I averaged about 75mph. I averaged about 125 mph in my plane, door-to- door. In six years my dispatch reliability has been 100%. I can't say that for going commercial. It all depends on what and how you build, and maintenance. Denny |
#28
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
On Jul 16, 9:57*pm, "Jim Stockton" me@nowhere wrote:
" With fuel prices, that would be a significant difference. -- Jim in NC Following that I would suggest Airtran to DFW. They can handle almost any weather that you couldn't and a ticket is about the same as 25 gal of avgas. Alot more practical and a lot less likely to make a smoking hole due to got to get there pressure. If you want to fly a homebuilt do it, just don't try to reliably commute in it. My 2 cents worth. Jim Stockton If I can't fly myself the commute becomes impossible. My home is almost 2 hours drive from KATL and the place I would be is 1.5 hours from KHOU. My trip one way is 3.5 hours before I am on an airport property. Factor in security, loading the plane and flight time and one way is now 7 hours. Doing that twice in a weekend leaves me with almost no time as I am dependent on carrier schedules. I can afford the avgas but I can't afford the time. |
#29
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
On Jul 20, 2:26 pm, es330td wrote:
On Jul 16, 9:57 pm, "Jim Stockton" me@nowhere wrote: " With fuel prices, that would be a significant difference. -- Jim in NC Following that I would suggest Airtran to DFW. They can handle almost any weather that you couldn't and a ticket is about the same as 25 gal of avgas. Alot more practical and a lot less likely to make a smoking hole due to got to get there pressure. If you want to fly a homebuilt do it, just don't try to reliably commute in it. My 2 cents worth. Jim Stockton If I can't fly myself the commute becomes impossible. My home is almost 2 hours drive from KATL and the place I would be is 1.5 hours from KHOU. My trip one way is 3.5 hours before I am on an airport property. Factor in security, loading the plane and flight time and one way is now 7 hours. Doing that twice in a weekend leaves me with almost no time as I am dependent on carrier schedules. I can afford the avgas but I can't afford the time. In the late 60's and early 70's I used to commute between Houston and Dallas on almost a daily basis. Texas International used to offer a weekly ticket called the Consecutive Executive. You paid one price for a weekly pass that allowed you to fly anywhere TI serviced through out the week. It was great and worked well for me since I lived 10 minutes from the airport in Houston and the office was 5 minutes from Love field in Dallas. There was no real security checkin and you just walked to the boarding gate, showed you ticket and walked on. Even if they offered such a bargain today I don't think it would be possible to do this today with all the issues of security and check in. Even if you live close to the airport at both locations, the time to commute would take longer by commercial than by private plane for anything less than 800-1000 miles depending on aircraft. I really believe the distance is probably even greater but allowing for a fuel stop does affect the time. What I would recommend is looking for a 4-place aircraft with a bit more stability. I know that many of the 2-place homebuilts have the range and speed you are looking for but would be concerned about the workload factor on long routine flights. You don't want a plane that you have to fly every minute of the flight. Most of the 4-place planes have slightly heaver wing loading and will give you a smoother flight. I am building a Pulsar Super Cruiser (KIS Cruiser) that would make an outstanding choice. I would also recommend the RV10 if you don't mind the larger engine and increased fuel burn. |
#30
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Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute
On Jul 20, 9:21*pm, BobR wrote:
On Jul 20, 2:26 pm, es330td wrote: On Jul 16, 9:57 pm, "Jim Stockton" me@nowhere wrote: " With fuel prices, that would be a significant difference. -- Jim in NC Following that I would suggest Airtran to DFW. They can handle almost any weather that you couldn't and a ticket is about the same as 25 gal of avgas. Alot more practical and a lot less likely to make a smoking hole due to got to get there pressure. If you want to fly a homebuilt do it, just don't try to reliably commute in it. My 2 cents worth. Jim Stockton If I can't fly myself the commute becomes impossible. My home is almost 2 hours drive from KATL and the place I would be is 1.5 hours from KHOU. *My trip one way is 3.5 hours before I am on an airport property. *Factor in security, loading the plane and flight time and one way is now 7 hours. *Doing that twice in a weekend leaves me with almost no time as I am dependent on carrier schedules. *I can afford the avgas but I can't afford the time. In the late 60's and early 70's I used to commute between Houston and Dallas on almost a daily basis. *Texas International used to offer a weekly ticket called the Consecutive Executive. *You paid one price for a weekly pass that allowed you to fly anywhere TI serviced through out the week. *It was great and worked well for me since I lived 10 minutes from the airport in Houston and the office was 5 minutes from Love field in Dallas. *There was no real security checkin and you just walked to the boarding gate, showed you ticket and walked on. Even if they offered such a bargain today I don't think it would be possible to do this today with all the issues of security and check in. *Even if you live close to the airport at both locations, the time to commute would take longer by commercial than by private plane for anything less than 800-1000 miles depending on aircraft. *I really believe the distance is probably even greater but allowing for a fuel stop does affect the time. What I would recommend is looking for a 4-place aircraft with a bit more stability. *I know that many of the 2-place homebuilts have the range and speed you are looking for but would be concerned about the workload factor on long routine flights. *You don't want a plane that you have to fly every minute of the flight. *Most of the 4-place planes have slightly heaver wing loading and will give you a smoother flight. *I am building a Pulsar Super Cruiser (KIS Cruiser) that would make an outstanding choice. *I would also recommend the RV10 if you don't mind the larger engine and increased fuel burn.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Although I like the miserly fuel usage of the Long-EZ, the Cozy/ Aerocanard is looking promising as they claim 1000 mile range with a 200 mph cruise. I don't like that the burn in an O-360 will be higher than an O-320 but the tight fit of a Long-EZ may get trying for 4 hours straight. Having the double wide panel in which to install toys like FLIR and a Garmin 430 & 496 will probably be the better route to go from a safety standpoint. |
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