Which airplane?

Ghazan Haider wrote:
: I've been browsing various aircraft for ownership and cant decide. It
: must easily carry 2 people with some baggage at least 600km at the
: minimum cost. IFR is preferable. Engine OH costs should be minimal.
: Speed/looks/noise are non-issues. Must be all-metal however.

: I've seen the zenith kit airplanes and am a big fan of the CH801. The
: kit with a used Lycoming costs 35000 or so (plus the cost of building
: it). I've seen used but flyable C152 for $14000. That makes me wanna
: relax my weight requirements.

: How much does fuel cost for a C152 for a 600km journey?

: Is it better to try and get an engine that can burn mogas?

: I've seen car engine conversions. Are their TBO really high as in cars?

: With extra tanks, how far can you go in a Mini-MAX?



: Apart from these, I've seen that aircraft similar to Cessnas cost less
: for not having that brand name. Beechcraft, Cherokees and Luscombes
: generally cost less than Cessnas. Whats a good choice on a serious
: budget? Or rather; whats the cheapest way to fly 600km or so with two
: people? four people?


I'm about as cheap as they come, and I believe that the best bang-for-the-buck
in a relatively useful airplane is the Cherokee. The Cessna 150/152 doesn't have much
range or load carrying capability for two people. The 172 has a price premium because
"everyone learned to fly in them." The Cherokee 140 (150hp) is $5-10k less than a
172, holds more gas (than a comparable year, anyway), and goes negligibly faster
requiring slightly more runway, and climbs slightly slower. The low compression ones
(150hp) are happiest on mogas (87 or better), and even some of the high-compression
ones can run 91 mogas (like our 180 hp). There are planes that go faster, haul more,
have more range, or cost less... but you usually have to pick one or two from that
list for any one plane. It'll take three people without having to be too careful, or
potentially four for a trip around the local area if you "plan light" carefully.

Just for the record, my partner and I just got back from a cross-country
(Southwest Virginia to Juneau, Alaska!) in our -180. Ran it at 60-65% power the whole
way (so it's like a 150hp at 75%)... 8.0-8.5 gph and about 112-115 kts TAS.

If you go experimental/kit, it's a whole 'nother ballgame of performance. As
far as the mogas, it depends on what you're going to do with it. If you will use it
primarily for travel, it's much less interesting, since you likely won't be able to
get mogas where you are going... so you've got at best the fillup on your home end.
You also need to make sure the fuel in your area doesn't have alcohol in it... none of
hte mogas STCs allow it. All that said, we've been very happy with ours, since we've
done lots of training with it. Perfect situation for mogas. Lots of local and
relatively short cross-countries, so you can just BYOG. I got my whole instrument
rating with about 30 hours of mogas.


-Cory

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* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
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