Re: [Titanaircraft] Re: SLSA for IFR?

Bob, I get the opposite reaction from most spam can drivers.  Once they discover just how fast I can fly and how little fuel I burn doing it, a lot of them walk away scratching their heads muttering "Maybe I need to get one of those".  I agree with you about how few hours per year most of them actually fly and, I might add,  how infrequently they carry a passenger with them. My needs are: a single seat, lots of power, sexy looking ride and the ability to fly into any airport, including grass strips, whenever I feel like it. IFR capability is the absolute bottom of my list of things I want in an airplane. I too do around 180 hours PIC time per year and my costs per hour are peanuts compared to spam drivers... not to mention I can do my own annual inspections.
 
Tim Hansen

--- On Mon, 12/7/09, Bob MacAdams <rmacadam@wyoming.com> wrote:

From: Bob MacAdams <rmacadam@wyoming.com>
Subject: Re: [Titanaircraft] Re: SLSA for IFR?
To: Titanaircraft@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, December 7, 2009, 11:08 AM

 

LS

You are right, I guess I should keep my mouth shut. I get a little defensive at times when I have some of the spam can drivers telling me that I should get a real plane or when I go for a bi-annual and they tell me that I should just get a real license (PPL) instead of a Sport License. These same people get maybe 20 hours a year and I fly 160 to 180 and do it at a fraction of the cost.

I rode motorcycles for years and figured that it was one thing to get caught out in a storm, that was just a fact of life. But it was quite another to start out in a storm, that was just dumb. I view flying the same way, if it looks like the weather is getting bad, it's a hole lot better to be down wishing you were flying than to be flying wishing you were down. Dirt roads are good. On the other hand taking off in bad weather is for those freighters and commercial pilots who have to go, for me it's just dumb.

Personally, I want to keep my planes as simple as I can. It's like owning a set of chains for your car, if you got them sooner or later you will put your self in a position to use them. This is why my plane will never be IFR capable.

I apologize for spouting off. Maybe I'd better go back and have another cup of coffee.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Well true. But on the other hand, you can also imagine what life would be like with a monthly payment on a 130K plus bank loan for an SLSA. I wouldn't feel much like flying either if I had to struggle with something like that for the next 10 years ;).

Still, if I were really looking for an IFR platform an SLSA would be at the very bottom of the list of things I'd consider.

But I guess it just depends on how rich you are - the bang/buck ratio of outfitting an SLSA for IFR doesn't strike me as a good investment. But if 130 large for the initial purchase doesn't hurt, an extra 10 to 15large for the rest of the stuff probably won't add much pain.

If I were expecting IMC on a trip in an LSA I'd either stay on the ground/do a 180/rent an IFR equipped plane.

Like I said, there're very very few circumstances under which IFR in an LSA appears as a good idea in my mind, financially or safety-wise.

But that's just me. YMMV......

LS

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