… depends on where the tops are … but in reality, not much except for the very brave who fly in weather where vertically avoiding TS extending above FL250 is required.
Yes, it’s nice to have options but I only plan for flight levels that can be flown with cannulas iso a full face mask.
gallois wrote:
Do you get much benefit at flying Fl 280 instead of Fl250 in an SEP?
Or in fact any altitude above FL180?
I think from FL245 you get upper airspace with more direct routes.
@arj1 correct, below FL240 expect dog legs and vectors.
Above FL250 you also need high altitude endorsement and pressure-demand oxygen mask systems, not the usual portable oxygen system found in an un pressurised SEP.
The regs have come a long way since a PA-18-135 held the SEP altitude record at around 31,000 feet.
Climbing on board doesn’t seem suitable for old grandmas Seriously, it seems to me a ladder and something to hold on to is needed.
Peter wrote:
The photos here make you realise what a huge plane this is.
1999kg and 5 seats.
SR22T is 1633kg and 5 seats, 3 rear only if passengers shoulders do not squeeze together. The 50 is probably a bit wider in the back, but three realistic adults (ie way more than „book values“) will probably be squeezed a bit.
Two of those CD300 engines in a 10 seat MEP, now
that‘d be interesting. Too late for Cape air, they already went with Tecnam‘s 2012 (Avgas powered Fadec Lycos).
I’m a bit torn on the 50. I guess it’s a great plane for people who can afford it easily and want a nice single in europe without messing about with Avgas.
I simply fail to comprehend the ‘raison d’etre’ for this thing. It’s expensive, non-pressurized, doesn’t have a parachute, unmovable seats, only goes to 20k ft and you have to fly it with a center stick. Just look at the seating position of the pilot in the sales brochure – you really wanna sit like that for some hours? I mean – seriously? I wonder what they were smoking when they greenlit this monster. Must have been pretty strong stuff.
172driver wrote:
I simply fail to comprehend the ‘raison d’etre’ for this thing. It’s expensive, non-pressurized, doesn’t have a parachute, unmovable seats, only goes to 20k ft and you have to fly it with a center stick. Just look at the seating position of the pilot in the sales brochure – you really wanna sit like that for some hours? I mean – seriously? I wonder what they were smoking when they greenlit this monster. Must have been pretty strong stuff.
Well, if it had pressurisation+FL250 or chute, would have been different story. I do like the way it looks, and I could see markit for it in Europe. If only…
I still hope they at least add the chute later.