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Buying an Airplane


KLRDMD

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4 minutes ago, KLRDMD said:

The Mooney also has 100 HP less than the Cirrus SR22. Yet it is still faster and on less fuel.

Really?

*sigh*

The 231 is not developing 100 HP less at 10k altitude.  The 231 can still develop 210 HP and the Cirrus is developing a lot less than 310 HP even at full throttle.

The Cirrus is bigger and heavier.  Bigger - wider and taller cabin, so more frontal area.  Even with all the aerodynamic fairings the gear is still down.  So of course the Mooney is going to be more efficient.  That's some basic fundamentals there.

In the Cirrus there's an arm rest between the two front seats with storage room in it.  Of course an arm rest would be a problem in the 231, with its one door and sliding across the seats.  Heck, getting into the back seats of a Cirrus is easy.  I like the interior space, two door and nice avionics.  My wife and many Angel Flight passengers loved not having a yoke in front of them.  They like that in the Baron 58 with the throw-over yoke too.  Not having to worry about the gear going down; had an Arrow give me a little grief with that on a couple of occasions.  The Arrow's gear ended up extending both times without having to do it manually, but it gets your attention.  If things go really bad there's the chute to fall back on if other options aren't available.

Have fun with your new-to-you Baron.  They are nice planes.  The ~$370/hr is bugging me as I'm not getting much for it.  I was flying the Cirrus for ~$210/hr.  The Baron is only 10 knots faster, and while it will haul more I rarely exceed what the Cirrus will handle (seats & weight).  Both numbers include fixed and variable costs.

If I had to fly over mountains or large amounts of water I might have a different opinion on twin vs single, but I live in the southeast.  Even with the Appalachians I cross them versus fly along them.  In cruise I'm in glide range of a public paved runway for the vast majority of my flights.

I've been working on putting a 3 or 4 person partnership together for a SR22.  Got interest but not commitment; i.e. dollars.  Now working on two person partnership for a Mooney.  This may actually come together as we're looking at a couple of planes.

 

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4 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I'm actually current in 310s right now. Sit there with your elbows on the arm rests doing 175 KTS on 26 GPH! yahoo!

I couldn't insure one. Not enough me time. Last quote I got was something like 13k a yr.

The mx would destroy me anyway. Twins are fun. Feel like real airplanes with all those levers :D

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16 hours ago, Robert C. said:

Did you consider a 310R as well? Or was it automatically a Baron for you? Curious about the pros/cons of each.

I looked at about everything. I prefer the 470s to the 520s personally and all things being equal (they never are) I prefer Beech to Cessna. That said, had the right 310R been available and all else showed it to be the the best plane on the market for my needs, I would not have had any issues buying one.

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1 minute ago, Skmoore63 said:

Beautiful airplane, congrats. I’ve been toying with a B55 upgrade myself. I love my M20C, but at night sometimes the vast expanse of darkness makes me think. I have about 12,000 hours of multi, haven’t checked the training or insurance costs yet. Enjoy!

Depending on what the multi is in, it shouldn't be bad. I would say to plan on about 2% of hull value and maybe 5 hours dual. Of course, I could be wrong.

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22 hours ago, KLRDMD said:

Yesterday I flew from Tucson to Las Vegas (KAVQ-KHND) in the Baron.

What was your burn to get 190kts TAS?  I've been debating on a twin for years (I know probably should have bought it years ago).  My significant other is scared about a single engine and no matter how many examples I give her about reliability she still worries about losing an engine-and no, a plastic plane with a chute is not an option (no offense to those that like them).

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I have 500 hours in a 310G model, IO470's with 260 horse engines.  I planned on 185 knts at about 10,000 ft and 25 gph.    very consistent for me.      Works out to about double fuel on  long cross country, 40 knts. and saves about 20% of the time for me.  And then the maintenance, other expenses.

Ron

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23 minutes ago, Kris_Adams said:

What was your burn to get 190kts TAS?  I've been debating on a twin for years (I know probably should have bought it years ago).  My significant other is scared about a single engine and no matter how many examples I give her about reliability she still worries about losing an engine-and no a plastic plane with a chute is not an option (no offense to those that like them).

I'm still learning this airplane. This was 11.8 GPH per side at 10,500 ft. I think I'll end up flying it around 10 GPH per side and get about 175 KTAS.

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