What comes after a DA40?

[Antoine]

jon I think you caught a very nice one. The new owner contacted me recently - this has a new engine and very fancy avionics. Owner says it is even faster than N121AG.
Erik - my mooniac friend was checking out a J model - he is into older Mooneys.
On the way home we flew at 185 KTAS down low with a ground speed of 170 or so. Would have been only 150 up high...

I think I focused too much on sheer speed and am not doing justice to the pressurization: the benefits go beyond the obvious: no mask, no canulas, no hassle - passengers just sit back in the roomy cabin, stretch their legs, and listen to some music. My (few) passengers so far told me that the cabin was remarkably quiet which can be explained by the rigid monocoque pressure vessel/fuselage.
The greatest benefit of the pressurized cabin is actual block to block speed: you simply stay up there where efficiency is maximized and tail winds can be very strong until a few minutes before arrival.
Then all you have to do is point the nose down and descend 22'000 ft in less than 15 minutes at 240 KTAS.
This maximizes the duration of the cruise leg with no discomfort at all for passengers.
When entering the arrival procedure, with big iron all around, it is really cool to be able to keep up with their airspeed. Makes it much easier on ATC.
I apologize if this sounds a bit like kiddy bragging. Honestly... it might be... but I'm sure you'll understand - I shared the pain and doubts on this long and challenging road - 20 months of setbacks, head scratching and fighting for solutions, so I thought that my "baby" deserved some publicity.

[Tommy]

I'm with you all the way Antoine. We have already had that discussion.
No one knows or understands until they have done what you and I have done.
You have achieved what some have tried but few have succeeded in accomplishing.
A lot of work, perseverance, money, set backs, determination and above all a vision. A very unique vision that is custom to you and only you. Nice job Antoine.

[Erik]

Erik - my mooniac friend was checking out a J model - he is into older Mooneys.
On the way home we flew at 185 KTAS down low with a ground speed of 170 or so. Would have been only 150 up high...

Hey - so what altitude was that it likes to do 185TAS?

This is an advantage of a piston over a turbine since turbines tend not to be so efficient down low - so a turbo piston really gains efficiency in that you can go high when there is a tailwind, which essentially is harnessing solar energy since the sun fuels the winds, and then down lower when the winds are on your nose.

I figure it is fun to see high ground speeds, but there is not much savings in time of arrival if there is a big tail wind. So generally I throttle way back and just float along with the big tail winds when they are there, and burn er' on high when I am boring holes into a big headwind, but a bit lower down to try also to reduce the strength of the wind.

[Antoine]

Tommy: yes it is a long and sometimes very lonely road as you know.
The reward is in proportion though.
I see another benefit in that we become experts on the type and are more and more capable of guiding / managing the A&P who may or may not have our focus/ experience /time.
This struck during the flight back from Corfu, in company of the technician who had fixed the aircraft: he was very good, but it was his first flight in the type. I say all this with due respect - our contribution is different and complementary...
Erik: "down low" was FL120 IIRC.

[Tommy]

Yes Antoine, we are traveling down the road less traveled... and I love it.

[Antoine]

Thanks Tommy. Been literally like a kid lately

More good news:
The British court with whom I had filed a complaint against the company that ripped me off on the interior redesign project has just informed me that the case was going into judgement with the other party completely failing to defend.
This soon to be concluded victory will allow me to disclose the full story, as some people here asked me to do.
Another few pages on this thread - eye-popping, I promise.

[Star57]

Hello Antoine, I have been absent from the forum, I'm looking forward to Hering the outcome of your interior woes .
I sold my DA40, purchased a Lancair ES dual door in Holland, got it to Canada, and now the fun has started...
By the time I'm done I will have a phd in the G900X, the title to my first chapter on my thesis will read
"The nightmare begins"
More to follow...
I wish I was a normal person...
More to come

[Tommy]

Hello Antoine, I have been absent from the forum, I'm looking forward to Hering the outcome of your interior woes .
I sold my DA40, purchased a Lancair ES dual door in Holland, got it to Canada, and now the fun has started...
By the time I'm done I will have a phd in the G900X, the title to my first chapter on my thesis will read
"The nightmare begins"
More to follow...
I wish I was a normal person...
More to come

I can relate. I have asked myself that question many times and have still not received an adequate answer.

[carym]

For Christmas a couple of years ago my daughter got us a front door doormat that reads:
"A pilot and a normal person lives here"
Enough said!!

[TJS]

I saw a tee shirt I liked a lot at Oshkosh this year,
"I spent 99% percent of my life savings on aviation; I wasted the rest"