Airplane Hot Rods: the fastest of their class

Capt.Crash'n'Burn

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Capt.Crash'n'Burn
I've been trying to find out what the fastest planes out there on the market are and I'm not finding all the categories I'm looking for. Here's what I've got so far, can you help me fill in the blanks??

Single Piston: Mooney Acclaim
Twin Piston: ?
Single Turboprop: SOCATA TBM 850 (although the non-certified Epic LT is faster)
Twin Turboprop: Piaggio Avanti P 180

Single Jet (Civilian): ?
Twin Jet (civilian): ?

Have there been production planes in the past faster than what I have listed? Are there experimental craft on the market that are faster?
 
Where does the Mitsubishi MU-2 fit in?
I always thought it at least looked fast.

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every plane is for sale for the right price

Officially, for a piston single engine aircraft, the record is held by a Grumman F8F Bearcat at 528.88 mph, set on 21 August 1989.

Book cruise for an MU-2 is 300 mph.

For a Colemill Panther Navajo conversion the maximum speed is 275 mph @15,000'.

The 4-place (piston) Lancair IV has been clocked at 342 mph.
 
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The 4-place (piston) Lancair IV has been clocked at 342 mph.

I read somewhere that the Acclaim has a higher cruise speed at lower altitudes.

I wish the manufacturers would make this easier and post the results of standardized tests. :incazzato:
 
I read somewhere that the Acclaim has a higher cruise speed at lower altitudes.

I wish the manufacturers would make this easier and post the results of standardized tests. :incazzato:


Yea! For gods sake how in the world are we supposed to make an intelligent purchase without accurate information?
 
If all the manufacturers published unrefutable, standardized performance data, then what we we all lie about when we're together at Oshkosh about what our airplanes "true out at on xx g/h?"
 
If all the manufacturers published unrefutable, standardized performance data, then what we we all lie about when we're together at Oshkosh about what our airplanes "true out at on xx g/h?"

Because our airplanes are different from the factory-fresh
new aircraft flown by test pilots. We have the advantage
of more hours in our particular aircraft than those test pilots
(who probably fly dozens of models)

:wink2:
 
For the civilian twin jet forget the Citation X and Gulfstream 650. Get the one of the Sukhoi SU 27 Flankers for sale at Pride Aviation in Rockford, IL. Mach 1.8. Both are registered with proper N numbers. Can't get more civilian than that.
http://www.prideaircraft.com/SU27-specs-01.pdf
 
There are a couple of civilian-registered F-4s that would outrun the SU-27 (but not out handle it).
 
Piston single, I'd agree the Mooney Acclaim Type S is probably the fastest.

Piston twin, Aerostar 700 for sure. The Navajo Panther conversions still used Chieftain engines, the (L)TIO-540-J2BD. They put out 350 hp, same as the TIO-540-W2As put in the Aerostar 700, but the Aerostar has a slicker body and is pressurized so you can use the power. Their website says 285 ktas at full power, 245 ktas @ 65%.

The Riley Turbostream 310 conversion that used those same 350 hp Navajo engines may go faster, I haven't looked at the specs on it. 700 hp in a 310 sure looks appealing. Looking at the Ram Series IV 310 conversion with the 325 hp engines, it says it'll do 217 ktas @ 12,000, 75% power, but doesn't list 18,000 ft and above. So it's probably pretty close to the Aerostar, but not quite there.
 
Do you know if the Panther Navajo conversions come close to being as fast?

Speaking of conversions, are there any available for the Aerostar to further improve its performance?

Multiple mods culminating in the Superstar 700 I believe.
 
I've been trying to find out what the fastest planes out there on the market are and I'm not finding all the categories I'm looking for. Here's what I've got so far, can you help me fill in the blanks??

Single Piston: Mooney Acclaim
Twin Piston: ?

Have there been production planes in the past faster than what I have listed? Are there experimental craft on the market that are faster?

Is the Acclaim faster than the Malibu Mirage?

The piston twin will be a Superstar 700.

Experimental piston single will be the Lancair IVP at around 300kts (Nemesis NXT is faster, but that' s a really tough build and basically a purpose built racer) and turbine single I think is held by the Turbine Legend.
 
According to Wiki, the 601 holds the closed speed record for a production piston twin. Of course, whether or not that's accurate is subject to verification. :wink2:

The 60x series and their P variants were the "production" aircraft. Machen and now Aerostar Aircraft Corporation (who now owns the Type Certificate) have over the years developed modifications to the type which have increased the speed from the factory.
 
I just saw something on MSN that the Citation was the fastest.
The Citation X has an Mmo of .92 and the G650 is supposed to come out at .925 when it is certified. I know that Citation has been putting winglets on the X. I wonder if they will try to have it certified at a higher speed like .9251. :D
 
The Citation X has an Mmo of .92 and the G650 is supposed to come out at .925 when it is certified. I know that Citation has been putting winglets on the X. I wonder if they will try to have it certified at a higher speed like .9251. :D

Next one needs to be a more serious effort, sub orbital at Mmo of 7.5....
 
The Citation X has an Mmo of .92 and the G650 is supposed to come out at .925 when it is certified. I know that Citation has been putting winglets on the X. I wonder if they will try to have it certified at a higher speed like .9251. :D

Isnt it amazing the expense folks will go to in order to achieve a certain claim of fame? And a temporary claim at that!
 
Is the Acclaim faster than the Malibu Mirage?

Yep, by quite a few knots.

...and turbine single I think is held by the Turbine Legend.

It may have at one time, but the Epic LT was a few knots fatster, and its newer cousin, the Epic Escape, has a max cruising speed of 365 ktas.

EDIT: Once the certified version of the LT, the Epic Dynasty is released, it will be faster than the SOCATA TBM 850 by more than 30 knots.
 
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it is, the Gulfstream 650 has not finished flight test

When does a new speed achievement become official? Seems like this one is still slightly in doubt.


wiki:
Flight testing for the maximum operating speed of Mach 0.925 was announced as completed on May 4, 2010.

AOPA says
Gulfstream Aerospace may have trumped Cessna Aircraft May 2 by achieving a speed of Mach 0.925 during a test flight of its G650, just slightly above the Mach 0.92 cruise speed of the Citation X.
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articl...eam.html?WT.mc_id=100507epilot&WT.mc_sect=gan
 
Grumman AA5B Tiger. Fastest PRODUCTION fixed gear, fixed prop 180 HP airplane.


Heh, heh, heh........
 
Grumman AA5B Tiger. Fastest PRODUCTION fixed gear, fixed prop 180 HP airplane.

The DA40 is faster than a Tiger, so maybe you should say fastest out of production fixed gear, fixed prop 180 HP airplane with a sliding canopy and castering nosewheel.
 
The DA40 is faster than a Tiger, so maybe you should say fastest out of production fixed gear, fixed prop 180 HP airplane with a sliding canopy and castering nosewheel.

made out of aluminum too
 
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