craigh2011
New Member
My name is Craig and I have an aviation addiction, lol.
I've been flying since I was 22, got all my ratings (multi commercial instrument rotor) when I was 23. I'm 40 now, I have about 1400 hours PIC, and I've owned and operated the following in order:
At 23-Mooney 231 (loved it until the engine failed, realized it wasn't practical transport for my needs)
At 24-Beech PBaron (hated the damned thing, lost a motor in it and found out it won't climb at gross on one motor)
At 25-Cheyenne 1A (loved it, loved it, loved it...reliable, fast, handled ice well)
At 26-Mooney 231 (concurrent with the Cheyennes, fun for little hops and my dad liked flying it)
At 29-Cheyenne 2xl (liked it ok, but I liked the 1A better; my gripe was that it was too thirsty and limited my range)
At 30-*boom* when I was almost 30 I went broke. No flying for eight years. I didn't like that one bit, lol. Ouch.
At 37-Mooney 231 Rocket conversion (loved it, but I bought it to make sure I still wanted to do the flying bit- I do)
At 38-Currently flying a 700 Super Star Aerostar (this is hands down the baddest ass bird I've ever sat in, if I don't fly for a few days I go to the airport and just sit in it and it makes me smile)
The reason I say I miss the 70s is because all the airplanes I'm interested in were being made in the 70s (and to some degree in the early to mid 80s) but no more. The pool of turbine twins is shrinking rapidly, and that's what I want to be in. I love my Aerostar, but I need more range and while I love the Lycs on the plane, there's a lot of complexity going on in the nacelles to get the 700HP needed to make the things scoot. I want a pair of turbines to rely upon. Sadly, you can't do that with an A*.
Let me just say this now lest I misrepresent myself: I know nothing about designing airplanes. I'm a capable pilot and a pretty decent wrench, but there are tons of gotchas in aeronautics and I don't know squat about that.
That said, what I'd like to do is buy a MerlinIIIA (looking for a good one) to cart my fat ass around and figure out how to stick a couple of Garretts or Alissons on the A*. Bobby Alison did it in the 80s, there's no reason I can't do it, right? I'll keep the Merlin until I get the A* sorted out, than I'll dump the Merlin and keep the turbine A* for <1000NM and maybe a jet for the long hauls if the money keeps rolling in. I'd love to build a turbine twin from scratch, but let's be realistic; I'm just not smart enough to design it better than Ted Smith. The Aerostar is built like a tank, flys like a fighter, and slips through the air like a hot knife through butter. All that, and the manufacturer still supports them (and they're about as good a bunch of guys over there as you'll ever meet) and they even look cool.
That's why I'm here. I'm hoping to learn things from reading and have a bunch of guys who've built airplanes to run my ideas by.
So am I in the right place?
I've been flying since I was 22, got all my ratings (multi commercial instrument rotor) when I was 23. I'm 40 now, I have about 1400 hours PIC, and I've owned and operated the following in order:
At 23-Mooney 231 (loved it until the engine failed, realized it wasn't practical transport for my needs)
At 24-Beech PBaron (hated the damned thing, lost a motor in it and found out it won't climb at gross on one motor)
At 25-Cheyenne 1A (loved it, loved it, loved it...reliable, fast, handled ice well)
At 26-Mooney 231 (concurrent with the Cheyennes, fun for little hops and my dad liked flying it)
At 29-Cheyenne 2xl (liked it ok, but I liked the 1A better; my gripe was that it was too thirsty and limited my range)
At 30-*boom* when I was almost 30 I went broke. No flying for eight years. I didn't like that one bit, lol. Ouch.
At 37-Mooney 231 Rocket conversion (loved it, but I bought it to make sure I still wanted to do the flying bit- I do)
At 38-Currently flying a 700 Super Star Aerostar (this is hands down the baddest ass bird I've ever sat in, if I don't fly for a few days I go to the airport and just sit in it and it makes me smile)
The reason I say I miss the 70s is because all the airplanes I'm interested in were being made in the 70s (and to some degree in the early to mid 80s) but no more. The pool of turbine twins is shrinking rapidly, and that's what I want to be in. I love my Aerostar, but I need more range and while I love the Lycs on the plane, there's a lot of complexity going on in the nacelles to get the 700HP needed to make the things scoot. I want a pair of turbines to rely upon. Sadly, you can't do that with an A*.
Let me just say this now lest I misrepresent myself: I know nothing about designing airplanes. I'm a capable pilot and a pretty decent wrench, but there are tons of gotchas in aeronautics and I don't know squat about that.
That said, what I'd like to do is buy a MerlinIIIA (looking for a good one) to cart my fat ass around and figure out how to stick a couple of Garretts or Alissons on the A*. Bobby Alison did it in the 80s, there's no reason I can't do it, right? I'll keep the Merlin until I get the A* sorted out, than I'll dump the Merlin and keep the turbine A* for <1000NM and maybe a jet for the long hauls if the money keeps rolling in. I'd love to build a turbine twin from scratch, but let's be realistic; I'm just not smart enough to design it better than Ted Smith. The Aerostar is built like a tank, flys like a fighter, and slips through the air like a hot knife through butter. All that, and the manufacturer still supports them (and they're about as good a bunch of guys over there as you'll ever meet) and they even look cool.
That's why I'm here. I'm hoping to learn things from reading and have a bunch of guys who've built airplanes to run my ideas by.
So am I in the right place?
