Best Plane To Buy With 1k Useful Load Under 100k$

I do like these types of posts, especially when people put up links to for sale planes. Makes chair shopping easier and sometimes I see planes I may have missed.
 
You'll open up a whole lot more suitable aircraft options if you decide to limit airplane camping to just you and your spouse, and go car camping whenever your friends want to come along.
 
Get your multi-engine rating and a lot of options open up in your price range (though opex will increase). Depending on your appetite, a Twin Bonanza fits the mission nicely. High payload, great unpaved performance, lots of room. Can be had for under $100k, depending on the example. Just need the appetite and willingness to deal with an older less-supported airframe.
 
This will work out a lot better if you can convince the other couple to get PPLs and buy their own plane, or partner with you in one much larger bird. I'm skeptical that you can get the load AND SPACE you need in a plane within your budget.
 
Half Fast said:
This will work out a lot better if you can convince the other couple to get PPLs and buy their own plane, or partner with you in one much larger bird. I'm skeptical that you can get the load AND SPACE you need in a plane within your budget.
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Not that I have any room to talk, It would also open up a lot of possibilities and save a lot of money, not to mention improve their health and allow them to enjoy camping more, if all four went on a diet.
 
bluesky74656 said:
I put the 900lb number into a P model I fly and it barely works with half fuel and almost zero baggage, mostly due to CG.

I tried it in an S model and I couldn’t make it work.
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Your example is what I assume most are talking about when they say “older” Bonanza. I’m trying to head off the idea that the early bonanzas, which appear to many to be the same plane, have that kind of useful load.

My F35 had around 825lbs useful. In other words, Skyhawk or Cherokee territory.
 
My K model Bo was in the 900 range when it was last weighed.
 
JOhnH said:
Not that I have any room to talk, It would also open up a lot of possibilities and save a lot of money, not to mention improve their health and allow them to enjoy camping more, if all four went on a diet.
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220lbs and 240lbs, for a man, may not be unhealthy depending on a bunch of other factors (like height, etc.). Granted, losing weight is cheaper than buying more useful load...
 
JOhnH said:
That's what I thought at first but on second look I'm not so sure I read it right. Perhaps the OP can clear this up.
At first I though one spouse weighted in at 270 and the other at 300, but looking at the way it is written, I now think it means that the two spouses together weight 257 to 300 combined, or about 150 each for a total of about 760#,
If I was originally right he needs a big plane. If I figured it out correctly his options open back up.
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yes, sorry for the confusion, both of our girls together weight ~270 :)
 
genna said:
Viacheslav(is that Russian?). I think the first thing you have to do is get on the same page as everyone else. Useful load is a specific term. It means the difference between gross take off weight and empty (0 fuel, 0 passengers, 0 baggage) weight. It’s not how much stuff/ people you can put in the plane. Basically fuel to fly eats into that weight. And you will need at least 150 lb of it in a single engine plane to make any flight worth the effort, legal, and safe

Based on the numbers you supplied, you’d need over 1000lb for just people. Add bags and fuel and you are looking at useful load of more than 1300-1400lb. That’s a twin territory or a turboprop
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Short name: Slava, and yes, close, eastern Europe, Ukraine :) Thank you for clarifying the definition, I think we are on the same page, up to 1000 needed for ppl and gear and 150+ for the fuel (on top of it)
 
bradg33 said:
220lbs and 240lbs, for a man, may not be unhealthy depending on a bunch of other factors (like height, etc.). Granted, losing weight is cheaper than buying more useful load...
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while I definitely working on this (but even in best case I still going to be 200+), my friend is not that fat but tall and a lot of mussels (unlike me :) )
 
Don't forget that, in a pinch, you could ship luggage and camping gear ahead to your destination and pick it up on arrival. If that lets you have another 100lbs of fuel it would be worth the slight extra hassle.
 
Viacheslav Kovalevskyi said:
while I definitely working on this (but even in best case I still going to be 200+), my friend is not that fat but tall and a lot of mussels (unlike me :) )
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Weight isn't your only consideration. In most 4-seat planes you're going to be very cramped. Go try on a few planes and see how well you fit.
 
If only one could easily fly AN-2 for this :)
 
..someone mentioned a twin up thread.. I'll be that guy to also mention it

Check out the Aztec, about 2K useful, huge, very comfortable, can handle camping type punishment. They're dirt cheap also.. fuel burn and maintenance are higher but you can pick one up for around $100K. Also, the engines are huge but aren't high strung, they're good for 2K hours.. here you go: https://www.trade-a-plane.com/searc...el=AZTEC+C&listing_id=2400900&s-type=aircraft

We take our club's Aztec on camping trips. I've had 6 people in it with weight to spare, and 4 people in it, full tanks, and all the gear you could need for a trip, including fire wood, a full cooler with food and ice, 5 gallons of water, etc. Some of the places we go a little more austere so we need to bring all the food and water, places like Furnace Creek, etc.

upload_2022-1-26_11-55-21.png

It's a remarkable easy and docile plane to fly, doesn't handle the best if I'm being honest, but neither does a 182, and I'd say it does fly better than a 172 or 182.. though I prefer the 210's flying qualities better tbh. Depending on how hard you push (ie, how much gas do you want to burn) it you'll get 155 to 170 knots out of it

In the photo below I have it pulled way back.. 11 gph per side, 2200 RPM. Still showing 158 over the ground with a TAS of 165
upload_2022-1-26_11-58-15.png
 
Half Fast said:
Weight isn't your only consideration. In most 4-seat planes you're going to be very cramped. Go try on a few planes and see how well you fit.
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I thought you were going to mention "balance". Just because a plane can carry 1,000 pounds, that doesn't mean it can carry it anywhere. Well, perhaps except for a 182 or C2XX.
 
I may have missed it, but I haven't seen on here what length runways you're looking at. That is probably going to dictate what you want for a plane to a large extent.
 
JOhnH said:
I thought you were going to mention "balance". Just because a plane can carry 1,000 pounds, that doesn't mean it can carry it anywhere. Well, perhaps except for a 182 or C2XX.
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Very true, especially in the Bonanzas (some have real balance issues). In my experience, twins are a lot more forgiving on the CG front, though.
 
My R was 1305 when I got it and I’ve worked it up to 1323. They go for around $180k+ right now though
 
Tantalum said:
..someone mentioned a twin up thread.. I'll be that guy to also mention it

Check out the Aztec, about 2K useful, huge, very comfortable, can handle camping type punishment. They're dirt cheap also.. fuel burn and maintenance are higher but you can pick one up for around $100K. Also, the engines are huge but aren't high strung, they're good for 2K hours.. here you go: https://www.trade-a-plane.com/searc...el=AZTEC+C&listing_id=2400900&s-type=aircraft

We take our club's Aztec on camping trips. I've had 6 people in it with weight to spare, and 4 people in it, full tanks, and all the gear you could need for a trip, including fire wood, a full cooler with food and ice, 5 gallons of water, etc. Some of the places we go a little more austere so we need to bring all the food and water, places like Furnace Creek, etc.

View attachment 104028

It's a remarkable easy and docile plane to fly, doesn't handle the best if I'm being honest, but neither does a 182, and I'd say it does fly better than a 172 or 182.. though I prefer the 210's flying qualities better tbh. Depending on how hard you push (ie, how much gas do you want to burn) it you'll get 155 to 170 knots out of it

In the photo below I have it pulled way back.. 11 gph per side, 2200 RPM. Still showing 158 over the ground with a TAS of 165
View attachment 104029
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Welding goggles? Is this airplane named “Herbie”?
 
1k UL, $100k, 4 people stuffed in, a bunch of **** in the back PLUS gas?


Let me know when the NTSB link is posted.
 
Piper Dakota looks like an ideal candidate, 500lb front/300lb back, 150lb baggage, 200lb fuel and is still within limits and have some margin. Amazing airplane, yes 100k+ but I am ok to wait a little bit to get it:)
 
Those saying you can do this with a 180hp power plant are dreaming. Cherokee 235 or Skylane maybe. Really, this does sound like a job for a twin. Reality is single engine airplanes suck when you want to fly lots of heavy folks.
 
steingar said:
Those saying you can do this with a 180hp power plant are dreaming. Cherokee 235 or Skylane maybe. Really, this does sound like a job for a twin. Reality is single engine airplanes suck when you want to fly lots of heavy folks.
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And twins don't really do much better on that until you get to cabin class.
 
This mission pretty much screams a "twin" like a Piper Aztec. You could get it done in a Six/Lance/Toga, but you'd have much better luck finding an Aztec in that price range than a PA32.
 
Did anyone say Mooney yet? As long as the people in back like each other, a lot, like a lot, you could do it in an F model. 1050 useful load, 3K runway, shorter legs of a couple hours.
 
There’s a supercharged Beech D50B for sale on BeechTalk for ~84k… that’ll fit the specs.
 
I've flown a Dakota, and they fly nice. But I've never flown one full gross, so I can't comment on that at all. I have flown 150's that way, and they're pretty doggy....like long runway, slow climb, not hot days. Perfectly safe, handles fine, not weird, just low performance. I wouldn't fly a Cherokee over weight even a little or out of CG...maybe just me. I don't know if a 235 fully loaded would be miserable or not.
 
kaiser said:
There’s a supercharged Beech D50B for sale on BeechTalk for ~84k… that’ll fit the specs.
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That or the Aerostar are my siren songs. Probably twin Bo tbh

The sound of those augmented exhausts. Unreal

There's a derelict one with the Eisenhower stairs deployed sitting on the ramp at Hemet in front of the restaurant.. if it didn't look like an absolute project it might be worth tracking down the owner
 
^volume up, headphones on
 
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