What to buy: Bravo or Acclaim

[Schllc]

7 hours ago, Jetpilot86 said:

I have 3 airline buddies selling Aerostars because they are hard to find A&P’s that wrench on them. 

If you are talking about in the US, I think they may be using that as their excuse to get out. If they are abroad, I can’t speak to that. 
There are many good shops spread all over the country that specialize in Aerostars. 
They are also not suffering any airframe parts issues whatsoever, what isn’t readily available from the factor is easy to find salvage. 
There are some challenges with engine driven AC parts, and of course turbo clamps, but other than that, nothing I am aware of, unique to the airframe, is hard to find.

[qwerty1]

On 9/14/2024 at 10:05 AM, Dreamscape said:

I am a geologist and will be travelling from the top of Colombia to the bottom of Peru.  We are starting a large project and the head office will be either in Medellin or Lima or both

LIDAR -ing plans for open pits in Colombia/Peru, perchance as a 'geologist'?

[qwerty1]

On 9/14/2024 at 10:50 AM, exM20K said:

In a previous life, I was a coffee trader and spent a great deal of time in South America on crop tours, though none of it was in Colombia as that place was a bit spicy for North Americans in the mid 90’s. But having flown over a lot of it, I have zero desire to fly a piston single down there. Maybe where you’re going is more arid than what I was in, but even so, airports can be few and far between for someone with 90% experience east of the Mississippi. @Oscar Avalle can probably elaborate more on the nature of flying in South America. It is a big, diverse place.

So the main issue is lack of safe airports in case of unexpected mechanical issues to divert to?

[toomany]

I fly a bravo and a comanche - both w 540's, one turbo'd the other NA. My concern w the turbo is if you loose a seal you can pump all your oil out the exhaust and not know it until youre out of oil.  I've got some time flying across the states in both, and to mexico and the bahamas, but i dont think id be too keen on flying across large expanses of water or dense jungle or woodlands. The problem with trees is that they normally rip your airplane apart and give the occupants severe injury.  Then once the ride stops your covered up by the canopy making search and rescue rather difficult. Throw in some bears or cats and it could really get interesting. 

I used to live in ecuador and never saw any pistons flying in the higher elevations except for a 172 in quito that did sporadic training - i dont think they even carried 100LL on the field.  Field elevation at the old airport was somewhere around 14000 msl i think. The new one in the puembo area is a little lower i think but not considerably so.  I also used to ride offroad motorcyles to very remote places in ecuador and can remember riding through the andes where a small plane flew through a cloud with a big rock in the middle - there was no way of even remotely identifying what type of airplane it was.  I imagine you'll probably stay out of the cordilleras for the most part, and having a knowledgeable local is certainly key, but the nature of your mission inevitably will leave you close to the folds of the envelope at some point in time - be it fuel, wind thats not as advertised (fuel again) or large distances that only an albatross could make without power.  

That said, the original owner of the bravo used to frequent venezuela - it has monroy tanks, so about 5.5 -6 hrs useable.  That same engine grenaded at 1999 hrs from a failed lifter. After i saw how thin the engine cases are from the holes blown out of it from engine parts, i wasn't too enthusiastic about flying the bravo or any other piston single over bast expanses of water or remote wooded areas. I still do on occasion but im always looking/planning for the engine out.  I also carry a survival pack and flares now, something the younger, pre fragmented engine version of me would have thought pointless.  

As much as i loathe commercial aviation, and dont use it unless its absolutely 100% necessary, i probably wouldnt take the mooney to south america unless it was mostly over land and in the low country for the majority of the trip.  Flying high with a turbo is nice as long as youre with the wind, when youre not it sucks. Ive seen 80kt ground speeds in the bravo going west over arizona at only 15000'.

As far as any argument b/t lycoming or continental goes - theyre both absolute junk. They are nothing more than severely over priced ancient relics of design and engineering that have capitalized on the faa's unwillingness to allow newer technology to occupy the most critical real estate of the plane. 

If i were needing an aircraft to fit the mission you describe i would probably consider a turbine lancair, or a murphy bull moose - unfortunately i cant think of anything in the middle. Not sure if columbia or peru allow experimentals in, but i think mexico may have recently

changed their view on experimentals so there may be a little precedence from another latin country if that is an issue.

Regardless - best of luck on your search  and most of all take your time and have fun. If you need a spanish speaking right seat i could probably be convinced with a cold beer.

[LANCECASPER]

Just the absence of 100LL in many of these places makes it a non-starter to plan on using the Mooney to make these trips.