wrote in
oups.com:

Hi Marty,

I think we are talking different 885s here.
As far as I remember the 885 is the light airframe with the 145 hp
O-300.
The 235 has the heavy airframe, I believe.
Well, does not matter really.

My 880 had the RR O-200, max speed about 90kts.

The only disadvantage of the Rallye I can think of is the difficulty to
get spare parts(never mind the costs, yikkes).

We used the 880 as a two-seater with a lot of luggage room.
The both of us plus full fuel and then we had 100# left for baggage,
and thats a lot if you have to carry it from and to the plane over
several 100 yards.

Having a sore back from hauling baggage is no more, I have a C150 now.

Cheers,
Kees.



Hi Kees -

Oooops. My mistake. I misread your model number as 895 and equated that
to the Rallye 235E, as the previous model, the MS-894 (aka Minerva) was the
Franklin 220hp powered Rallye. Sometimes I think MS & SOCATA had more
model numbers & names than they had aircraft.

Yes, the 235 has the heavy airframe, which includes 2 hardpoints on each
wing. I found some pictures on the web a few years ago showing 235's
outfitted as light fighters by a few Latin American countries. The only one
I could find today is about half-way down at
http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/IRB.HTM

I am convinced SOCATA uses the aircraft's service ceiling as the floor for
parts prices.

---
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)