Do we fly because we could also “take the train”?
I know I don’t.
I always take the train when I can.
Originally I wanted to get a train driver license and own my personal train. Turned out to be much harder than owning an aircraft so I had to switch.
But in Europe if you fly regularly for just 1 hr then you may as well drive or take a train.
Depends where in Europe you are. From my home base, an aeroplane doing 260kt TAS, in a little over an hour will get you to places like Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Paris, (south) London, Milan, Turin, Geneva, … None of these can be reached in an hour by train 
I cannot even remember the last time i was in a train. I don’t even care about model trains. Cars&Planes ;-)
I know of one Jetprop that has been operated well above gross 80% of the time and often in heavy weather. A testament to the structural robustness of the PA46 airframe.
Provided the appropriate adjustment is made to Va, is a more heavily loaded plane more likely to break in turbulence? It will stall sooner, but that isn’t the same thing. The stall unloads the wings.
A Jetprop is a fine 2-seater plus luggage – same as e.g. a TB21 with full TKS whose payload with full fuel is only about 150kg 
I would rather persuade him to buy a well maintained Cessna 340 or 421 with good engine times
The figures would support that if you just want something that will “fly” but not everybody wants to fly a 30 year old airframe which looks and smells like a 30 year old airframe, which has endless little airframe issues (and some big ones like the SIDs) and which will have endless avionics issues (unless you spent more than the purchase price on re-doing it all).
The downtime on an old heap like that will be far more than the downtime on say a half-engine-life TBM700 which can be had for $1M.
Otherwise, everybody who flies a TP would buy a 421C and tart it up, and get free avgas for the rest of their life.
every single passenger I have carried so far – prefer the second engine over a ten mintue gain in flying time.
Commercially that will be true, but they are not in a position to judge the risk. Most people are nervous as hell about flying in anything small. In fact a lot of people will not climb into an airliner if you paid them any money (due to serious psychological problems). A private owner-pilot who is smart will understand the reliability of a SET. A private owner-pilot who is not smart better stick to a C150 on a sunny day because he will never even work out the stuff in the panel
My comment about trains is really about the good rail links in much of N Europe (not the UK which is mostly really crap) and these decimate the case for flying. Trains (if you get one which doesn’t need changes) are nice to sit on, effortless, you can read a book, post on EuroGA, etc.
This means that if the case for a particular aircraft falls apart on longer flights (say 4hrs) then it will be a poor deal overall. I think most pilots (with a long range aircraft) do regard longer trips as delivering a lot of value, and they would not go back to something with less range.
I know of one Jetprop that has been operated well above gross 80% of the time and often in heavy weather.
Basically all of them are operated above MTOW at takeoff for over a decade now and so far no accident happened. So this is not a technical problem but a potential legal one.
post on EuroGA, etc.
No you cannot because at least in most of France you have really shitty cell phone coverage especially on the TGV.
I think in the overall operating costs of a 2-3t turboprop the enroute fees are irrelevant. Maintenance is no more than a sub 2t and landing charges etc are a bit higher. If you use the aircraft fuel and depn are your major costs.
Basically all of them are operated above MTOW at takeoff for over a decade now
I think that is a generalisation to the same extent as saying that all PA28s crossing the English Channel with 3, let alone 4, people are over MTOW
>>>>Most people are nervous as hell about flying in anything small.
That’s not my experience. In 22 years i had one passenger like that. I am actually always wondering why nobody is scared. I had it a couple of times that parents would let their kids come along without knowing me at all (which i would never allow …)
The only one who would never come was my mother. But she had crashed in an airliner in 1958 …so everybody understood.
