Need a Fast and Economical Airplane, What Should I Buy?

[ShyFlyGuy]

Hey guys (and gals),

I'm looking at buying an aircraft in the next few months to commute from the Chicago area to the New York area (unfortunately, each place is out in the sticks, and 1 hour from the nearest airline-serviced airport, and 3-4 hours drive from the nearest hub). I do not want to fly the airlines if I don't have to.

With that in mind, I am looking for suggestions for an aircraft. I'm going to give the ideal criteria (I know no single aircraft will have all of these, but the most important features are listed first):

Price: Less than $100K
Cruise: Greater than 150 kts
Fuel Flow: Less than 15 GPH

That was actually a lot shorter than I expected. I have thought about aircraft ranging from the Twin Comanche to the Long-EZ.

Other than that, I'm drawing blanks. Any suggestions?

Yours,

Shy

 

[Andrew_VT]

a mooney or a C210 (both possibly turbo'd)

the 210 can come with boots, the mooney can come with TKS (but it has to be a later model than the M20J for the weeping wings to be FIKI on it).

Without FIKI that would be a sketchy mission more than half the year.

 

[Waldom]

Settle for 120 knots and 1 stop and you're talking a Grumman American or American General Tiger. Cheap to buy, cheap to fly, cheap to maintain, cheap to insure. Well under a hundred grand gets you a low-time airplane with plenty of money left over to upgrade to a WAAS capable, IFR certified GPS/NAV/COMM and an S-Tec autopilot.

No anti-ice though, other than the pitot heat and slowing down, cracking the canopy, and scraping ice from the front of the windshield.

 

[BushwickBill]

What about a Lance? I'm not sure about 15gph. Seems like it could pull the rest off.

For under 100k it would be hard to find anything legal under icing conditions.

 

[sqwkvfr]

Comanche 250.

 

[ShyFlyGuy]

Settle for 120 knots

...and I'm looking at an Apache at a REALLY low cruise (45% or so?).

Cheap to buy, cheap to fly, cheap to maintain, cheap to insure. Well under a hundred grand gets you a low-time airplane with plenty of money left over to upgrade to a WAAS capable, IFR certified GPS/NAV/COMM...

Sounds like an Apache, minus the 1 stop.

...and an S-Tec autopilot.

Wait, does that mean I get to sleep??? Yessss...

No anti-ice though, other than the pitot heat and slowing down, cracking the canopy, and scraping ice from the front of the windshield.

Hahaha... that's my kind of guy. Waldom, you aren't such a bad guy.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm pretty stuck on at least 150 kts.

Who mentioned the 210 and the Lance? Okay, how about adding "Reasonable hourly operating cost" to the list. Both will have a DOH around $250-300/hr, yeah? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks!

Shy

 

[ShyFlyGuy]

Moo... (repeat)

 

[pilotyip]

120 Kts

Settle for 120 knots and 1 stop and you're talking a Grumman American or American General Tiger. Cheap to buy, cheap to fly, cheap to maintain, cheap to insure. Well under a hundred grand gets you a low-time airplane with plenty of money left over to upgrade to a WAAS capable, IFR certified GPS/NAV/COMM and an S-Tec autopilot.

No anti-ice though, other than the pitot heat and slowing down, cracking the canopy, and scraping ice from the front of the windshield.

I remember the Tiger being capable of nearly 140 kts at about 7,500'

 

[Andrew_VT]

ok so the FIKI idea flopped ($$) but I still say mooneys. The pre J-models are great deals and excellent in the mpg area. The J- models are even better but more money. You can get the almost the same speed in some of the older models but with a shorter backseat and more cramped cockpit area (also crappy instrument layouts!).

I'd get one that can burn autogas (if you can still get gas without ethanol in your state).

 

[TWA]

Skymaster?