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flyersfan31

flyersfan31

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Freiburgfan31
Your long lost, distant, extremely wealthy uncle just died. In his will, he singled you out, due to your pilot's license, for a very special gift. You receive a huge corporate hangar, with more than enough space for anything you'd like to pack into it, along with $5million of pin money to fill it. What would you do?

(Those of you with limited imagination, who would worry about mx costs, insurance, and training requirements need not respond)

Me?

Stearman. Day one. $100k
C195. Either steal Greg & Sharon's, or spend $95k on my own
Peterson STOL 182SE. $250k. No strip I won't be able to visit.
Mitsu MU2, stretch. Late model. Turbine reliability. Two engine reliablity. short/lousy strip capability. Potty. Pressurized. Need I say more (don't poop on the MU2 - it's a great plane with training - but even better, with a potty, you CAN poop on an MU2) $900k
B25. 30 seconds over Tokyo, 'nuff said. My favorite twin warbird. $750k
Pitts S2C, or whatever the 2-holer is. Because every pilot should be able to do aerobatics at will. $200k
F86 - most beautiful jet, ever. period. End of story. $800k


Hmm, that's 3.095mill of dear ol' Unkie's money spent. What else?

Lake SeaWolf - 'cause who doesn't need an amphib? $200k
Curtis Jenny - kickin' it old school. Cost? Dunno. Assume Jenny or a reasonable facsimile...
Beech 18. Round engines. Steep uphill climb to the cockpit. $200k
Cessna 310Q. Flat engines, hump over the px to the pilot seat. Mebbe the most beautiful piston plane, certainly most beautiful piston twin. $250k
Grumman Wildcat. Me. Jimmy Thach. Butch O'Hare. Good company. $1mm

We have about $300k to play with. Hmmmmmm.

Well, might as well drop $35k on a....
J3 Cub. Because.
PA18 Super Cub. Because sometimes a Cub isn't enough, and who wants to land the Peterson 182 on a gravel bank? $120k

I didn't account for the cost of the Jenny/equivalent, so let's assume the balance covers her.

:D:D:D

Ah, dreams............
 
this is just torture. If I can't actually have a real P38 I aint playing.
 
Poorly planned. You now have a hangar full of fantastic show planes cause you can't afford the insurance and fuel to fly them. :-)

I on the other hand would get the Peterson 182SE for the long flights and
family trips, and a nice new Husky or Supercub for cruising the backcountry as I toured the united states meeting up with POArs !

Ok.... Back to reality, time for bed cause 5:30am comes to early for work tomorrow.
 
P-38
Extra 300/Edge 540
KA350 - or some other "party barge"
P-80 Shooting Star
Sopwith Camel

That should just about drain me.
 
Pilatus PC-12.
Peterson 182
Cessna Covalis
some taildragger capable of getting the both of us into mountain strips. Is there a Peterson 180? :)
 
I can't even start to dream that big, 'cuz I'd need to fill in every detail of my fantasy, and your list would result in a museum, not a flying fleet (no money left to keep them flying). Add a coupla zeros to that inheritance, and my dream fleet would be similarly extensive.

But there are ways... Kermit Weeks got it right, using his substantial capital to set up a dream fleet that's also a business. He has his cake and eats it, too.

But I don't know if I'd do it quite that way... I'd put at least $1 million to work for me right away in some sort of investment(s), and I'd sell or rent out the big hangar and build one of my own on a million dollars' worth or so of good land, suitable for a modest home and a big grass strip. Then I'd set up a restoration shop so I could keep more money coming in and get to tinker with/fly all sorts of wonderful aircraft. The personal fleet would be an AN-2 on amphibious floats, an open-cockpit biplane of some kind with room for two or more up front, a simple glider, an AT-6 (to tow the glider and for aerobatics), and maybe a Maule or Scout with all the extras to use as the "daily driver". And I guess I'd have to have at least one small, sporty one-holer... an RV-3 or even a much older homebuilt. Yeah, that would all be nice, and not too expensive (for a millionaire, LOL).

Sigh... but I don't have any rich uncles...:frown3:
 
King Air
Mooney Acclaim or what ever the latest is that goes zoom zoom
Peterson 182
Lancair evolution with a TIEO 510
Lake Amphib
Corsair or Hell cat or P51
and Finally a Schleicher ASW28
 
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I would buy a Piper Cherokee 235, and invest the rest into fuel and maintenance and never having to work again, then fly everywhere
 
To stay with the OP's post, assuming my rich uncle willed me $5m for planes and another truckload of money earmarked to keep them insured and working......

1 - Stearman
2 - Cessna 400 (Corvalis TT)
3 - Cub
4 - Supercub on floats (maybe... in Colorado there's not many places to land it)
I know, Supercub on SKIs!
5 - Comanche 400 (because... It's got a Hemi! :))
6 - TBM
7 - P-51
8 - RV-6
9 - Breezy
 
Gotta love rottydaddy's ideas, mine are similar: put $2M in gold & blue chips, $1M to share amongst friends, $0.5M for home & hangar, $0.5M invested for maintenance & insurance (I'm thinking of a partnership in a shop that I really like & trust). Now, for that last $1M - a Husky and an SR22, the cherokee is already paid for.
 
P-51 (Love those Merlins!)
J-3 (Just cause I always loved them)
Probably a Mooney for speed (Retracts are the sexy way to go)
Since the hanger was included, the rest goes into investing w/ a modest
return to cover aircraft expenses and "play" money. I would
still work...
 
AdamZ said:
Lancair evolution with a TIEO 510
Click to expand...

TIEO 510... that sounds like an interesting engine. The TEO-540 that's going in the Evolution, though, might be a better choice. ;)
 
What, no helicopters?

Anywho, I'll take a:

C-185 with floats
Edge 540
King Air Super 200 with all the nice Raisbeck mods
Bell 206
One of those old Caproni Jet powered gliders
and a really good A&P/IA...


Trapper John
 
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I used to be afraid to fly in helicopters.

Then I became a helo crewman in the CG and learned more about them.

Now I'm afraid whenever I see one in the air.
 
Trapper John said:
What, no helicopters?

Anywho, I'll take a:

C-185 with floats
Edge 540
King Air Super 200 with all the nice Raisbeck mods
Bell 206
One of those old Caproni Jet powered gliders
and a really good A&P/IA...


Trapper John
Click to expand...

Those Caproni's were COOL. There is one for sale in AU right now but it's the un-powered version. I've been told by those who had flown them that they were insanely noisy. I bet with a couple of the newer micro jets it would be perfect.
 
Interesting timing - One of the people I follow on Twitter, @Av8rDan, has a blog he calls "world of flight" and he just had basically the same scenario, only money was unlimited, number of aircraft *was* limited (to 10), and he wanted our #1 to be the most important "gotta have it" plane.

Here's my "Lottery Fleet":

10) HondaJet, assuming it actually comes to market. I love to travel, and I love to fly, but there are times where it really is the destination and not the journey that are important - That's why GA pilots, even those who own planes, still travel on the airlines sometimes. I hate the airlines, so I'd want my own jet - But I'm also a big fan of efficient planes. From where I live, the farthest point in the continental US is about 1800nm away; The HondaJet can go anywhere within with one fuel stop and 4.5 flight time, so call it 5.5 hours (or 5 with a quick turn) to go anywhere in the US. Compare the amount of time used vs. fuel burn to a Citation X, and for a ConUS trip I'd be taking 2.5 hours more but burning well under half the amount of fuel.

9) Piper Turbo Twin Comanche (or, if such a beast were ever to come out, a Diamond "DA52 Super TwinStar"). The "Twinkie" is also a "go-places" airplane, but less than half the HondaJet's speed. However, for trips that don't require the speed of a jet, the Twinkie is hard to beat for efficiency at a reasonably fast speed. It'll also allow me to fly to destinations with shorter and/or unpaved runways. In reality, this is one of the planes I would most like to own.

8) P-51 Mustang - There's just something about the P-51 that makes any living, breathing human take notice. It's fast, it's loud, and it helped win WWII and establish the US as a world superpower. Plus, these birds NEED the folks with unlimited funds to keep them flying!

7) Husky A1C - While there are a lot of folks who have a soft spot for the Piper Cub, the Husky (an improved derivative of the Super Cub) has the extra performance to fly in and out of backcountry mountain airstrips, pull floats out of the water, and have an improved fun factor. The controls on the 2005 and later Huskies have been modified so that they are extremely well-harmonized, making this a VERY fun airplane.

6) Extra 300L - Aerobatic hotshot machine with an extra seat so I can turn my friends upside down too.

5) Globe Swift - One of the neatest vintage airplanes IMHO. I'd go for the "Super Swift" modded variety with sticks and a 210hp Continental IO-360 engine for extra fun. This one is also on my real-life buy-someday list, as it can be used for traveling (and it's efficient), it can be used for light aerobatics, and you can fly it with the windows open. :-)

4) DC-3/C-47 - Another one that's probably on every pilot's list to at least fly on someday - It both helped win the war and it was also the first commercially viable airliner.

3) Seawind 300C, again assuming it gets certified. One of the fastest planes that can be landed on water, with a massive cabin and cargo compartment for taking your buddies on that remote fishing vacation, or hauling your family to the cabin on the lake for the weekend.

2) F/A 18F Super Hornet - For when you just feel the need to be a bad-ass and make a lot of money into a lot of noise and go REALLY fast. :-D

1) Cessna 185 - I have a lot of my time in a 182, and it is one of the best airplanes ever produced - While it's not the best at any one thing, it's pretty darn good at EVERYTHING. The 185's extra power and tailwheel configuration would allow for a little better performance at backcountry strips or off water on floats.

I'd have skis and floats for the Husky and the 185, and maybe even the DC-3/C-47. Just because. ;-)

One thing I didn't put on the list: A Duo Discus sailplane. I'd love to have a glider, but it's gotta be a two-seater because I like to share flying with others. You can fly a two-seater solo, but you can't fly a single-seater with a friend.
 
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