Ownership and retirement

[Henning]

Yup. I'd personally have to keep a four place aircraft with reasonable travel capability at a minimum. Most of the time it would be the wife and I and two labs. Bo is of course a great answer as are others. $50K isn't my budget at all, I was just curious what James thinks is a good traveling aircraft for $50K since he made the statement.

You can travel in anything, traveling in a motorhome or Mercedes is nicer than traveling in an 83 Escort, but an 83 Escort can still take you coast to coast.

 

[hindsight2020]

You can travel in anything, traveling in a motorhome or Mercedes is nicer than traveling in an 83 Escort, but an 83 Escort can still take you coast to coast.

That's kinda where I am, though once again I'm making this mental exercise 2 decades in advance. The Arrow was affordable enough to acquire and otherwise could take me to either coast, albeit very slowly. The saving grace is it only takes me 9gph to go 130kt, as opposed to 12gph in the case of the welded leg 182s and piper -236s. I'm just hesitant to sink money upgrading it unless primary non-commercial becomes a reality. An Arrow III with an injected Comanche engine would be a really sweet setup.

The RV-14 sounds like a very nice touring 2-seater. Nice spacious and with much better legs (50 gal versus 40 on the -7s). But I'd imagine it's acquisition cost will be off the charts compared to my Arrow. I'd be hard pressed to exceed maintenance costs on the items the Arrow has that the RV doesn't (swing gear) to account for the acquisition delta between an Arrow and an RV. Everything else in the experimental camp seems cramped, and as we age I'm sure that will become a detractor.

I suppose as my income increases in the next couple of decades I may be able to expand my purchase criteria. My goal in retirement, just like housing, is to have these purchases covered outright and just handle operation and maintenance. More range and speed would be nice, but ability to afford to stay in the game is of more importance.

 

[Bill Watson]

6&7 are 2 seat side by side, 4&8 are tandem, 10 is 4 seat, the rest I don't know, but I know he has a glider personal project with a number.

The '9 is also a 2 seat side by side but a bit slower.

The '14 is the newest of the clan. It borrows heavily from the very successful '10 and turns the 4 seats into 2 seats.

I'm a '10 guy. If you think you need a Bo' or a 182 or a Cirrus, or if a Lab and/or significant other is involved - the '10 is the homebuilder choice.