Plane for this mission:

CJones

CJones

Final Approach
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
6,051
Location
Jawjuh
Display Name
uHaveNoIdea
Home Airfield
KCCO
What plane would fit this mission profile:

* 6 seats - 4 adults + 2 small kids (car seat aged now, but growing quickly)
* 160+ KTAS cruise
* Needs to be able to do ATL-SAT (760 NM) in one stop or less with all 6 seats filled with the previously mentioned 4 + 2, though if it's non-stop, it needs to be substantially faster than the 160KTAS requirement - thinking 4hr leg time limit.
* Needs to be able to haul the 'stuff' that those 6 seats need for a long weekend. Family is used to packing light for light-single travel, so we're not talking about packing bikes or entire wardrobes, but also don't want to have to wash underwear every day b/c there isn't enough room in the plane for extra clothes.
* FIKI is not required - not willing to subject passengers to long flights in bumpy clouds and travel profile is not 'time critical' - but it would be a 'nice to have' for punching through an overcast layer on the way up or on the way back down into DSM at Christmas.
* ~750hr PP-ASEL-IA w/ Complex + HP. No multi, but it's not out of the question if the 'perfect' a/c for this profile ends up being a twin.

Ready. Set. Go!
 
How frequently will you be doing this trip?

If you're doing it lots of times a month/year, then buying for this load out makes sense.

If it's only once or twice a year, then it might make more sense to do this mission via Air Trans and buy something smaller for your local/regional flying.
 
The aircraft that does your mission is a turbine turboprop (pc12/tbm) or a twin. And a turboprop twin like a king air.

Thems the only aircraft that do that mission (maybe a baron).

Not even a a36 orG36 work.

I second Mikes comment about airlines . . . This is a mission for an aircraft that makes money, not for a personal aircraft unless you have very deep pockets and fly often . . . .
 
I'm sure that someone will disagree, but the only single I see doing that is a Caravan or PC-12.

There are singles that can carry all six, but you are going to be hard pressed fitting the luggage in.

Need to look at the loads, but I'm thinking the usual suspects....58 Baron, Seneca?
 
Seneca doesn't have the zero fuel weight for all that and the speed is a bit low. Need more horsepower, Baron, 310, Aztec if he wants to give up a bit of speed, are the minimum requirements.
 
Henning said:
Seneca doesn't have the zero fuel weight for all that and the speed is a bit low. Need more horsepower, Baron, 310, Aztec if he wants to give up a bit of speed, are the minimum requirements.
Click to expand...
Probably right on the Seneca. I've never looked at them closely. From talking to Ted, I think that while a 310 might do it (ands BE55 as well), it will get really cramped when the kids grow.

Aztec looks like it has better cabin room and might work.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I'm sure that someone will disagree, but the only single I see doing that is a Caravan or PC-12.

There are singles that can carry all six, but you are going to be hard pressed fitting the luggage in.

Need to look at the loads, but I'm thinking the usual suspects....58 Baron, Seneca?
Click to expand...

The speed is the killer, there are some piston singles that will take the load, but I'm not aware of any that would take the load at those speeds
 
Last edited:
comanchepilot said:
The aircraft that does your mission is a turbine turboprop (pc12/tbm) or a twin. And a turboprop twin like a king air.

Thems the only aircraft that do that mission (maybe a baron).

Not even a a36 orG36 work.

I second Mikes comment about airlines . . . This is a mission for an aircraft that makes money, not for a personal aircraft unless you have very deep pockets and fly often . . . .
Click to expand...


One thing to keep in mind, even if he was a CPL, no employer would hire him with his experience to fly those turbine aircraft as PIC, let alone fly pax as PIC, there is a reason for that.

And just getting your multi ticket and building your initial experience in a hot multi with your family and kids...going cross country... that sounds like a good idea to ya?? There are cheaper ways to kill your family

Closest thing to his mission that he would likely qualify in and be able to remain qualified in is a Cessna 210T.


For a affluent hobby pilot, if something like the 210 cant cut it, I'd recommend leaving the flying to the professionals for this mission.
 
Last edited:
Likely waaaaay beyond the OP's means and other needs, but I fondly remember how well Dave S.'s King Air took care of himself, me, Kimberly, Spike, and Tommy on our Gaston's trip.
 
comanchepilot said:
The aircraft that does your mission is a turbine turboprop (pc12/tbm) or a twin. And a turboprop twin like a king air.

Thems the only aircraft that do that mission (maybe a baron).
Click to expand...
There are several piston twins which can do this very nicely, including the 400-series Cessnas and the Piper PA31-series, but otherwise, I generally agree. The 58 Baron, Piper Aztec, and Cessna 310 would be borderline. Anything less? Forget about it.

So, our PP-ASEL-IA pilot is going to have to either get into the rather high-priced SE turbine world (PC-12/TBM -- the $2M ballpark) or factor getting an ME rating into the picture.
 
Last edited:
I think an early Malibu would do this trip. One of the Continental powered ones. Prefereably an 89 that had the better hydraulics. Mirages are probably too payload challenged.
 
Interesting discussion so far. This is all hypothetical at this point. The other thread about the Seneca I got me to thinking about a bigger 'family hauler'. The RV-10 has fit the bill just fine for four of us, but now that there are two little ones in the equation, I got curious about what the next 'step up' would be.
 
Skylane81E said:
The speed is the killer, there are some piston singles that will take the load, but I'm not aware of any that would take the load at those speeds
Click to expand...

What speeds are you thinking? I'm guessing you're in the Cherokee Six realm? We've done similar trips in a Six-300 and while it could definitely do the load, man was that thing slow - especially for the fuel burn.
 
Ken Ibold said:
I think an early Malibu would do this trip. One of the Continental powered ones. Prefereably an 89 that had the better hydraulics. Mirages are probably too payload challenged.
Click to expand...
Not even close. He said he needed to fill all the seats AND carry the baggage for all of those 6 people.

Baggage space in a PA46 is minuscule. He'd have more room in a PA32.
 
CJones said:
What speeds are you thinking? I'm guessing you're in the Cherokee Six realm? We've done similar trips in a Six-300 and while it could definitely do the load, man was that thing slow - especially for the fuel burn.
Click to expand...
You could get at least 155 out of a PA32R
 
CJones said:
What speeds are you thinking? I'm guessing you're in the Cherokee Six realm? We've done similar trips in a Six-300 and while it could definitely do the load, man was that thing slow - especially for the fuel burn.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's about as fast as a piston single will haul that load
 
CJones said:
Interesting discussion so far. This is all hypothetical at this point. The other thread about the Seneca I got me to thinking about a bigger 'family hauler'. The RV-10 has fit the bill just fine for four of us, but now that there are two little ones in the equation, I got curious about what the next 'step up' would be.
Click to expand...
One of the 300HP 6-seat singles would get you close, but will not be getting you there non-stop. You can trade some fuel for payload, and do it in two reasonably comfortable legs in something like an early PA32 (later ones have much lower useful loads), but as originally described, this is a perfect cabin-class twin mission. Note that you can get a potty in those cabins -- might be important with that crowd.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top