I think everybody likes the plane they own and fly 
I don’t know if I have posted my notes on the TB20. It turned out to have been a great choice for me, particularly buying a brand new one, which is pretty well essential if you are new to ownership and maintenance management.
However you would never get a 26st (165kg) person in there With full TKS (a 50kg payload loss if full) and a ton of junk in the back, it is a 2 seater, although you could get me (75kg) in there plus two UK Size 8-10 ladies 
Peter wrote:
However you would never get a 26st (165kg) person in there
He was a very big chap. That was his first ever flight. He blames me for getting him into flying. He now owns a very nice PA46. And he lost 13 stone…..
BeechBaby wrote:
He blames me for getting him into flying. He now owns a very nice PA46. And he lost 13 stone…..
Pure necessity to get into the PA46 flight deck i reckon… but I think if he really blames you for getting him started… you probably saved his life if that is the result.
Yes; 165kg down to 82kg is a truly amazing achievement, and he deserves a huge medal.
Not just saved his life, but improved his quality of life dramatically, especially for the last few decades.
I have been in a PA46 a few times and I can’t get in or out (of the two front seats) in a hurry. But it is for sure much better than the standard generation of one-door planes; these get the internals knackered by everybody climbing over everything. I know it is easier to write this in the 21st century but only a brain-dead designer would do a one-door 4- or 6-seater today.
Peter wrote:
Not just saved his life, but improved his quality of life dramatically, especially for the last few decades.
Yep and in all fairness he had the lot. Surgery, wired mouth, gastric band. He would have died very prematurely if he had not done something. He looks great now and presumably feels it also. Has gone on to do his IR and is now looking at a TBM930
I would like to think our flight had a small part in the initial motivation and drove him on. As we say, everything’s possible….just got to get on and do it.
Though I’d better drop in and update on where I went from this….
I spent a while looking at difference options mostly being ignored by brokers whenever I tried to ask any serious questions until a TB10 known to me popped up in the hands of Cavendish with a fresh annual and fresh leather interior. Slower than I wanted but coming in at half my budget and a safe bet given the work carried out so I bought it and collected it last April, I also bought a Pitts S1C with the leftover cash for some summer fun!
It was a good opportunity actually to see how the wife and kids got on with it before spending more money on something bigger and more complex. Glad to say it worked very well for us and we did numerous trips over the summer to Mull, Oban, down south, up north but it was definitely struggling for performance on hot days. Really loved the ergonomics, looks and cabin space etc of the TB10 but decided it was time for something with more performance and it was sold at the end of last year.
I was still considering a PA32 but nice ones at sensible money seemed few and far between, same as TB20’s so I ended up taking the plunge and buying an aircraft I’ve always had a hankering for, a GA7 Cougar which I picked up in Jan.
Done about 10hrs in her so far and really loving it, fuel burn can get crazy low for a twin back at 120kts or you can rip along at 155kts at 16usg when required. The cabin is vast and views great much as the TB10 was and the family love it. Not had chance to go far yet other than the flight back from Jersey as the weather has been horrendous but planning a trip into France / Spain in it in April.
On that note, does anyone know if that Chateau place in France is still open with its own grass strip where you can land and get picked up in a roller? Been meaning to go there for years but never got around to it….
Regards
Des
No. Chateau de la Chassagne, near Dijon. Airstrip closed over 10 years ago, now a golf course.
Wow, closed 10 years ago…… showing my age there!!
desH wrote:
so I ended up taking the plunge and buying an aircraft I’ve always had a hankering for, a GA7 Cougar which I picked up in Jan
Another one with O-320s, like the Twin Comanche but with a larger cabin… An interesting plane. Good luck with it!
Quote Another one with O-320s, like the Twin Comanche but with a larger cabin… An interesting plane. Good luck with it!
Bit of a roll of the dice for sure! I know the 0-320’s well having flown a ton of hours behind them and they are pretty solid and not horrendous to fix if they do go south, both engines are around 500hrs anyway so plenty of life. One prop is fresh from overhaul and the other was done last year so again that’s one less headache. Brand new interior put in not long ago and came with a good avionics fit. Conscious airframe parts are hard to come by though which is my biggest worry but it was too nice an aircraft to ignore….
