Which Airplane..?

Question

Hi, I want to know which airplane I should buy for doing flights to the caribbean and south america from south florida(miami)? I really want a Turbo Cirrus because they are fast and come with a parachute, which makes me feel more safe. But I also heard that flying a single over open water is a pretty bad idea, should I lose an engine i'm shark's food! lol. A twin whould be safer but then they don't come with a chute. My budget is less the 400k.

just me and my buddies. max 4 people. I'm checking out the Cessna Caravan amphibian and fell in love... lol

Answer 1

how about a beechcraft king air 350 or a cessna skyhawk. but if you're flying across water, how about a cessna caravan, which gives you the ability to land on water if necessary. I don't know how much these planes will cost you though.

Answer 2

If your concern is reliability, a twin doesn't neccessarily cover all the bases. It's nice to have $400k expendable income, and that can get you into a used Cessna-like or Piper-like twin, but there are other considerations beyond that. One biggie is operating costs, in a twin everything is doubled or more. You have to analyze if you can even afford to fly a twin when you want. Check out the planes for sale online like at controller.com, and you'll see tons of twins you can get for what seems like a deal. There is a reason for this, and it's not because they a cheap AFTER the purchase.
Then assuming you are not checked out in a twin, that's another hurdle you must overcome. There is a common saying about the safety of a twin in the hands of an unprepared pilot, "When one engine fails, the second will reliably fly you to the scene of the accident." This is no joke, it can be a serious situation when one engine fails in a twin, especially on take-off, when any out-of-the-ordinary situation can turn from bad to worse quickly.
Single turbo props are not within your $400k budget and twins are even worse. However, turbo props, being essentially jet engines, are inherently much more reliable and longer lasting the piston driven craft. I would probably feel as safe flying long distance over water in a single turbo prop as in any piston driven twin.
For argument sake, let's say I won a big lottery, what would I actually want to own to do the Carribean? The Grumman HU-16 Albatross for sure. Under a million, amphibious, 2 big radial engines, awesome range (2000 miles +), payload (take 30 of your closest friends on a Carribean fishing trip), and fairly fast (200 knots max). Not cheap to operate, but what an awesome coolness factor. There's a reason it was Jimmy Buffet's choice for Margaritaville...

Answer 3

You should go twin in my opinion... It will cost you more but you do have the safety blanket of being able to use that one engine to at least get you near more land... they dont come with a parachute becuase there is almost never a situation, other than the pilot forgetting the gas, that both engines would quit... and if they do, you are no more screwed than if you went down softly with the aid of the chute...

Based on your possible desire of the Cirrus, you obviously dont need more than 4 seats and thus the caravan would be too much airplane for you... I would reccomend a small twin, maybe like the piper seminole... you could buy one used probobly right around $400K...

Answer 4

The Turbo Cirrus is a great aircraft. Since, it appears you don't have much experience, you'd be better off with a twin engine.

Answer 5

If a twin would be safer, as you have decided, then why do you need the chute? In almost four decades I've never ditched in the water.

Answer 6

Consider a DHC-6. Damn good bush plane one you get to where your going