…this DR250 delivers Arrow speeds on a fixed gear/fixed pitch prop low maintenance combo…
WhiskeyPapa wrote:
I need to stay away from autopilots! It sounds like one would become indispensable if I got used to it
IMHO there is nothing wrong about simple “keep is straight and level” AP. Just a virtual helping helping hand in cockpit and it can hardly hurt you.
Robin DR-250 is a very nice airplane but for longer flights I wouldn’t want to sit in the back. Front seats offer just about enough space therefore for longer flights I would say it’s a 2+2 machine. Strongly recommended in this role.
This one http://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=35207 has a range of 700 NM and will carry 4 full sized adults
@Timothy
How is the AA5B for short field/grass? I’ve never flown one. Looks quite interesting and I do now like canopy planes.
@Robin_253
Secretly, I would love an autopilot but but the Rallye is not on the EASA STC list for any of them. So I’ll make the best of it and take the position that only pilot wimps need that sort of help.
dublinpilot wrote:
With higher cruise speed, you usually get the need for longer runways. So now you can get to the airport faster, but your airport choice may but further from your intended destination.
Good point. The speed is only important if you want to go far (around the globe far). People fly around the world in kites these days, it only takes a long time.
People have always flown around the world in “kites”; I used to share a hangar with one. If anything it used to be easier decades ago, before the terrorism-driven security stuff, controlled airspace, notams, etc. If you looked mad enough you could fly anywhere, under the radar, even through anywhere in Africa.
It always took a long time, which is why this is a sport reserved for those who are retired but still reasonably well funded. And I’d say a near-zero attitude to risk (someone else would call it “live and let live”) 
The North Atlantic has been crossed in a Druine Turbulent, after building it within the Iron Curtain, and using it to illegally cross to the West. 1950s??
You’re not thinking of a Fournier by any chance? There was a pilot Mira Slovak flew one transatlantically after escaping from Czechoslovakia to Germany in an airliner. I think there’s a similar aircraft in your hangar (or used to be when I trained in Inverness). Here’s his story.
For the record, I have no delusions about my Turbulent being a ‘touring’ aircraft, though I believe there was a man flew one to Casablanca once – there’s a nice picture out there somewhere on the internet with all his camping gear set out on the apron. That said, for a single-seat aircraft it’s better suited than some. The still-air range is about 300Nm and the baggage compartment is big enough to put a tent and a change of clothing.
Turbulents are advertised for about 6500 pounds these days, but there are a number of 2-seater aircraft that you could imagine converting to increase the range. Colin’s KR2 is a good case in point – I believe his is very lightweight and carries two people quite well, but the type is sometimes said to be a good one-man aircraft with poor handling when you load it up with two people and a decent amount of fuel. Before I bought my Turbulent I considered buying one and converting it into a single seater with larger fuel tanks. There are a number of cheapish homebuilt designs which, at least on paper, might be converted from 2-place aircraft to single seaters with a very long range.
