Talking about speed

[ChristianGodin]

Hello...

Most Mooniac are attracted by speed and efficencies. And Mooney for speed, efficency and load with sexy look is hard to get better if possible.

But... I went for a ride with a friend in his Questair Venture and whow!!! 230 knots true at 8000 feet and 12 g per hour..

Would you trust the design enough to buy a Questair Venture?

[ArtVandelay]

Design is one thing, the guy building it is another. Plus it isn't attractive to me, reminds me of one of tiny economy cars.

[rbridges]

3 minutes ago, teejayevans said:

Design is one thing, the guy building it is another. Plus it isn't attractive to me, reminds me of one of tiny economy cars.

If I knew it were safe, I could put up with a lot of ugly that moves that fast. 

[Guitarmaster]

It's apples to oranges. Four vs two place.

It is a cool plane! There is no parts or support (outside of that community). The landing gear is a marvel of engineering. Then there is the issue of the builder.

I love the Venture... As I love crotch-rockets. A blast to ride, but really no other use.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jim Peace]

1 hour ago, ChristianGodin said:

Would you trust the design enough to buy a Questair Venture?

No..........a good friend of mine raced unlimiteds at Reno.  He knew many questair guys..........Told me to stay away from that airplane and I will have to trust him.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Jim Peace

[JKSmith]

I no nothing about questair aircraft, but I do know this. Speed isn't everything (not to me anyway) having a efficient, safe, reliable, comfortable, and a mission perfect aircraft means a lot to me. Speed is just a perk. I flew a Cessna today and reaslised how good a choice I made, and I feel that my mooney or any other mooney could fit your mission as well as mooney fits mine. I'm not trying to curb you on your aircraft choice because I have a heart for anything with wings, and I like the looks of the questair but I've been in everything from a long easy, tbm-700, bonanza's, cessnas, and pipers. Out of all those my M20 is my baby and I'd choose her over any airplane in the air. 

[ChristianGodin]

Actualy, I am impress by the speed but 2 things:

- I prefer staying away from homebuilt to fly IFR.

- Useful load has a minimum to me that the Questair does not have.

[carusoam]

I went with the following logic...

I wanted the...

1) fastest - Minimize travel time...

2) Normaly aspirated - My 200 mm trip doesn't really allow climbing to the FLs.

3) Four seat - Because my friends and family still want to come along.

4) Factory built - Because there is too much to oversee.  I probably never had the skill to know and recognize every fastener, or oversee that level of work.

5) Aircraft that I could afford.  Pre-owned helps in this arena.

6) My financial administrator ixschnayed the non-factory built idea decades ago.

 

Hello used M20R!

 

For anyone not familiar with what Christian is considering...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questair_Venture

I like the engine choice, but there are other homebuilts to consider using the IO550.

The Venture has 60+ airframes built. That would make for a tiny QuestairSpace.com community to draw information from.

Lancair has a couple of airframes to select from IV-P and Evolution.

If I were single, I would have a ton more dough and a lot less responsibility...  Turbine would be on the list.

The IO550 would at least have a pair of snails and intercoolers to go with that, and the rpms tuned up to the experimental max setting...  

Pressurized and turbine...

http://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/list/category/2/experimental-homebuilt-aircraft?Manu=LANCAIR

We have an MSer (Rocket owner) around here who recently had built a turbine Lancair.  

The final challenge I come across with this selection of high speed planes... the final approach speed is considerably higher than the LB.  Their wing area is minute.  (Great for hangar space) My reaction time isn't improving with age and off-field landings at 90+KIAs sounds un-fun...

Do you get a parachute with that?

These are PP ideas that come to mind when I consider other planes...

Best regards,

-a-

 

[mccdeuce]

Hard to compare experimental 2 place to a certified 4 place.  

I am building a Glasair Super 2. Once complete I will cruise at 200knots burning 10gph. Capable of some light aerobatics and a lot of fun. 

Wingspan is a only ~22ft. Wing loading is 26lb/sqft in comparison to the 35ft and 16lb/sqft of the Mooney. 

Accident factors have shown over the years for experimental to be just slightly higher than certified but really of significance. Why? Because human error doesn't change between the two. 

Specifically for the Questair question - there's really not too many out there and it's better to have more built - which translates to more experience and more help to build and maintain. The Glasair 3 also crusies at 242 KTAS at 8000 burning 14-15gph.  There's many more of them out there, built and flying. 

Is the questair safe? Probably. Is the Glasair safer? No idea. 

Ultimately it comes down to what your mission is. Comfortable traveling airplane that is certified? Mooney. Fun afternoon flyer? Glasair (or similar).

my $0.02 

[mccdeuce]

As for the IFR in experimental - I fly helicopters IFR. Way more terrifying to think about than an experimental in the clouds...

[MB65E]

I'd stay away from the Egg. If you want a 550 on a 2 place screamer...Go with the NA Legacy. 220kts, nice range. Super strong airframe. If you want it to go 275ktas install turbos. However, I'd take the simpler/lighter airframe and range VS. the speed. 

I know an amazing builder. 

One day I'll have one. 

-Matt

[gsxrpilot]

I took a long hard look at the Velocity for the speed, room, useful, etc.  But in the end, I didn't have the confidence in the builder like I have in the folks from Kerrville. I know that when I'm at 20K ft and high in the green arc, a little turbulence doesn't worry me at all.  In the Velocity, I'd see that canard start moving up and down, and I couldn't get the throttle pulled back fast enough.  There are enough things to worry about flying single engine cross country, I don't need to add worrying about whether the builder had a fight with his wife the night before he laid up the fiberglass on that canard.