Hi all
Since the entry price tag for a new cirrus or ttx is not an option, what is your opinion on these various options?
My mission will require a weekly fly and work rhythm in Europe (Belgium, Balkan and Austria as the most likely destinations)
My changing location makes a share in a plane less suitable.
So what my mission requires is:
The planes I screened are (in priority of my taste)
My entry price tag would be around 100k plus minus what’s needed to get it all
Most older models you get for less than 100k so the retrofit would be within let’s say 150k
Any advice?
This is not my domain but in response to similar questions I remember recommendations for the Grumman Tiger and its relatives.
BTW if you consider a 4hrs IFR flight after a day’s work you must either have a light yet well-paid job or a very powerful brain. I’ll envy you both!
Grumman Tiger does only 110-120 kts and not the desired 150kts of Walter. May be the Pa-24-250 could the right one.
Everybody thinks their plane is the best so here is one from me 
A TB20GT in a very good condition can be found for maybe €130-150k, with everything working. Not many have TKS though.
But I don’t think you will get the despatch rate you probably expect from any of these models. To get a despatch rate well into the 90s you need to be able to fly in any frontal wx short a TS, and you need something with radar and the performance to climb above most organised IMC so you can avoid collecting ice and avoid the really big stuff visually.
The entry level is a PA46, preferably the Jetprop. Anything lesser will just have you sitting in the heavy wx, heavy icing conditions – unless you accept a despatch rate of say 80-90% which is what you will get with anything on your list.
I know many disagree with this but AFAIK 100% of them eventually have a near death experience sooner or later. The only difference is whether it appears on a pilot forum or not.
A C210 from the 1970ies maybe? For the money you will probably not get a full glass panel, but a GNS530W maybe which is really all what’s needed. A wonderful and very capable aeroplane.
@Walter
None of the planes on your list is “FIKI”, and actually you will not find many with any de-icing or anti-icing system.
You can also find a good SR22-G1 between 100 and 150 K €
They can be hard to find, but sometimes you even find one with WAAS GPS or Aspen PFD
One example:
http://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/1439431/2001-cirrus-sr22
Flyer59 wrote:
None of the planes on your list is “FIKI”,
There are plenty of C210s with deice boots which were optional equipment directly from Cessna.
None of the planes on your list is “FIKI”
A G-reg TB20/21 is FIKI.
But as I wrote I don’t think that is the point.
@what_next
I know there’s FIKI planes, but the C210 was not on the OP’s list
I would agree with Peter, FIKI and pistons are somewhat of a contradiction in terms. Those FIKI aircraft with good safety records in icing, the Aztruck comes to mind having done more than its fair share of high value documents night cargo in the Midwest etc, is probably more due to the Piper Cub thick airfoil than the boots and heated props. Don’t confuse FIKI for training purposes with hard IFR despatch rates. You will notice that Darwin has had his way with the FIKI piston twin, although the DA42 is a good survivor.
Convective or icing weather (nimbostratus or embedded TS in occluded fronts) requires FL300 plus and pressurisation for a reasonable despatch rate, or the ability to divert several hundred miles to avoid it.
Get the best SEP you can buy for EUR100K, possibly with heated props as an emergency anti icing feature. The useful load requirement of around 1200 lbs (six hours endurance at around 14 USGPH plus six hundred pounds payload), brings the list down to a TB20/21, BE36 with tip tanks, or a 210. Doubt you would get a modern glass cockpit on that budget.
The modern Turbo 182 with G1000 is very capable but again doubt a good example can be found for that budget.
