Buying questions - which plane?

Ok,

First time plane buyer, I've been looking for some time now.

I've narrowed it down to a few, looking for some big picture comments
pro/con on these:

Commanche 250 or 260
Commander 114
Mooney M20J
Socata TB20 Trinidad

Dont' care about purchase price right now, avionics, etc. Looking for
performance/maintenance/operating costs/issues people know of.

We will normally be loaded with myself, wife and son (400lbs) Plus weekend
bags (100lbs max).

My wife wants speed, speed, speed. I'm not as concerned about speed as I am
performance. I need short field performace as one of our primary fields is
a 2500' grass strip at 2000' DA. I'd also like to climb up into the teens
if needed to get over minor w/x.

Any advice would be appreciated.

tks.

If you want speed you better get the Mooney... 155 kts @ 10gph

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ

John Doe wrote:
Ok,

First time plane buyer, I've been looking for some time now.

I've narrowed it down to a few, looking for some big picture comments
pro/con on these:

Commanche 250 or 260
Commander 114
Mooney M20J
Socata TB20 Trinidad

Dont' care about purchase price right now, avionics, etc. Looking for
performance/maintenance/operating costs/issues people know of.

We will normally be loaded with myself, wife and son (400lbs) Plus weekend
bags (100lbs max).

My wife wants speed, speed, speed. I'm not as concerned about speed as I am
performance. I need short field performace as one of our primary fields is
a 2500' grass strip at 2000' DA. I'd also like to climb up into the teens
if needed to get over minor w/x.

Any advice would be appreciated.

tks.

Comanche 260B, very hard to beat all round especially for the price.

Great payload, I take full fuel 90 gals, 165 knots, bags, golf clubs etc,
nonstop NYC to Fort Lauderdale if I want to.

Worth a look.

Ray

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 22:33:33 GMT, John Doe wrote:

Ok,

First time plane buyer, I've been looking for some time now.

I've narrowed it down to a few, looking for some big picture comments
pro/con on these:

Commanche 250 or 260
Commander 114
Mooney M20J
Socata TB20 Trinidad

Dont' care about purchase price right now, avionics, etc. Looking for
performance/maintenance/operating costs/issues people know of.

We will normally be loaded with myself, wife and son (400lbs) Plus
weekend
bags (100lbs max).

My wife wants speed, speed, speed. I'm not as concerned about speed as
I am
performance. I need short field performace as one of our primary fields
is
a 2500' grass strip at 2000' DA. I'd also like to climb up into the
teens
if needed to get over minor w/x.

Any advice would be appreciated.

tks.






--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

"John Doe" wrote in message
nk.net...
Ok,

First time plane buyer, I've been looking for some time now.

I've narrowed it down to a few, looking for some big picture comments
pro/con on these:

Commanche 250 or 260
Commander 114
Mooney M20J
Socata TB20 Trinidad

Dont' care about purchase price right now, avionics, etc. Looking for
performance/maintenance/operating costs/issues people know of.

We will normally be loaded with myself, wife and son (400lbs) Plus weekend
bags (100lbs max).

My wife wants speed, speed, speed. I'm not as concerned about speed as I
am performance. I need short field performace as one of our primary
fields is a 2500' grass strip at 2000' DA. I'd also like to climb up into
the teens if needed to get over minor w/x.

Any advice would be appreciated.

tks.

How good are the approaches into the grass field? Unless they are pretty
good, it won't be comfortable going into or out of that field in the
Commanche, Commander, or Mooney unless you're fairly light. Even then,
you'll need to be on your game, particularly on landing. I don't know about
the Trinidad.

If I was looking at your mission, I'd be thinking C-182, C-182 RG, or C-206,
if only for the short field performance with a decent load...

KB

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...

"John Doe" wrote in message
nk.net...
Ok,

First time plane buyer, I've been looking for some time now.

I've narrowed it down to a few, looking for some big picture comments
pro/con on these:

Commanche 250 or 260
Commander 114
Mooney M20J
Socata TB20 Trinidad

Dont' care about purchase price right now, avionics, etc. Looking for
performance/maintenance/operating costs/issues people know of.

We will normally be loaded with myself, wife and son (400lbs) Plus
weekend bags (100lbs max).

My wife wants speed, speed, speed. I'm not as concerned about speed as I
am performance. I need short field performace as one of our primary
fields is a 2500' grass strip at 2000' DA. I'd also like to climb up
into the teens if needed to get over minor w/x.

Any advice would be appreciated.

tks.

How good are the approaches into the grass field? Unless they are pretty
good, it won't be comfortable going into or out of that field in the
Commanche, Commander, or Mooney unless you're fairly light. Even then,
you'll need to be on your game, particularly on landing. I don't know
about the Trinidad.

If I was looking at your mission, I'd be thinking C-182, C-182 RG, or
C-206, if only for the short field performance with a decent load...

KB

KB,

Very good points. I've flown into the field several times and am
comfortable landing. Takeoff, I just need to get off the ground without too
excessive of a ground roll in the summertime. Would like to carry enough
fuel to make a 350nm trip with standard reserves.

In article et,
"John Doe" wrote:

Ok,

First time plane buyer, I've been looking for some time now.

I've narrowed it down to a few, looking for some big picture comments
pro/con on these:

Commanche 250 or 260

A couple of things to consider wrt the Commanche

1) Will you be comfortable with (iirc) one fuel gauge that you
need to switch to each of the four tanks to read?

2) Not a lot of room behind the instrument panel for avionics
(at least that's what my avionics shop told me a number of years
ago)

Don't get me wrong, I almost bought a really sweet 260C but
then 9/11 happened - kind of changed my perspective on
the viability of putting that much money into an airplane.

--
Bob Noel
no one likes an educated mule

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
In article et,
"John Doe" wrote:

Ok,

First time plane buyer, I've been looking for some time now.

I've narrowed it down to a few, looking for some big picture comments
pro/con on these:

Commanche 250 or 260

A couple of things to consider wrt the Commanche

1) Will you be comfortable with (iirc) one fuel gauge that you
need to switch to each of the four tanks to read?

2) Not a lot of room behind the instrument panel for avionics
(at least that's what my avionics shop told me a number of years
ago)

1) Unless they're known for uncommanded fuel venting or leaks, I don't have
a problem with that. I've done it before in other aircraft.

2) The one I'm looking at is allready completely loaded IFR/GPS/AP. Not
much more I think I could add to it, but it will be something I look at
before I buy.

Thanks.

John,

Dont' care about purchase price right now, avionics, etc.


Well, in that case: Cirrus? Lancair?

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Thomas Borchert wrote:

Well, in that case: Cirrus? Lancair?

Certified Lancair is now called "Columbia", Lancair is now the name of
the kitplane line...

"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
John,

Dont' care about purchase price right now, avionics, etc.


Well, in that case: Cirrus? Lancair?


I've looked at both of those and a Columbia 400 is at the top of my list,
trust me. Just can't afford the sticker price. I just didn't want folks to
start writing about market prices of used airplanes on this thread.

I was flying XC on Wed and I heard a Lancair on the radio and I had to wipe
the drool off my mouth.