"Grasshopper" wrote in message ...


I looked at the Aerostar, but the 500B twin commander from the mid 60's is
like $200K. I want to try and stay under $100K, which I can do with a
Seneca I or Seneca II. What are your thoughts in my purchase price
constraints?

The Aerostar is a whole 'nother ball of wax. What I know of them makes
them low in my book for a family machine.

I think that you are going to have to balance load vs space vs
distance you can fly vs upfront money. Right now, with just my wife
and I and our three year old, we end up with about 100 pounds of
stuff and baggage for a weekend trip. Right now we do all our
traveling via road as our Commander is out west just coming out of
long term storage.

One of our biggest criteria for selecting the AC, was that we did not
want to isolate the flight deck from the cabin area.....in other words
we wanted ready access to the back seats without having to climb over
seats. Also, we did not want to isolate someone in the back with a
seperate door to worry about....kids will get into stuff they
shouldn't....

Load capacity vs flight time was another item we looked at. I'm just
at 6' and 275#. Put me, the wife and the son in the airplane and a
little bit of day gear and we are pushing rapidly towards 700#. With
the AC, that leaves me about 1900# for whatever else we want to drag
along and fuel while we cruise at nearly 200kts. With your case, just
a rough estimate would put you at somewhere north of 600#, but
remember kids will gain weight rapidly as they grow. Depending on
their ages, you could be pushing towards 1000# of people within a
short time. With that in mind, how much room for fuel and baggage
does that leave you in the Seneca series?

One other thing is the AC is probably the biggest pussycat in the
world to fly on one engine. Lose an engine and it's a pretty ho-hum
thing...dial in a little trim, cage the bad one and plow on. No
critical engine, V speeds are reasonable and it won't work you to
death if you do lose one. Remember Bob Hoover flew a great show in an
AC for 20+ years and will attest to it's handling characteristics.

Cost shoudln't be that big of a thing. Consider what your expenses are
going to be if you do by the Seneca and end up outgrowing it within a
couple of years, vs spending a bit more upfront. Good AC's can be
found within your price range with a little paitents and putting the
word out with the right people.

BTW, I do know of a AC 680E that is coming out of a long term overhaul
that will be as good or better than it was new, and the owner's price
isn't way out of the figures you are looking at.

What ever aircraft you narrow your focus down to, be sure and lay out
a side by side comparison of all the specs. Take a realistic look at
the family now and what it will look like over the next 5 years. Do a
practice trip and see where you really come out on the scales and then
do a weight and balance for each of the aircraft. Do a flight plan far
enough to figure all the stops necessary for the average trip you will
be making. Then once you settle on paper what aircraft you want, find
some way to fly one and see how you like it.

An aside here....the Twin Commander type club is having their annual
meeting and conference in September in Kansas City . Bob Hoover is
supposed to be there as well as all the AC gurus. It might be worth
the trip if you are not in a hurry to make a decision on what to buy.

Craig C.