Jetprop! (and import questions)

Buckerfan wrote:

We did get permission for “an emergency stopping zone” of 120m of tarmac at the lower, east, end of the runway

That is really good with a turbine. Our Meridian takes quite some time to spool up the engine from idle if you do it carefully. So having a tarmac area where you can spool up the engine without sucking in dirt is great. Actually the most difficult manouver of them all is a touch and go. Spooling the engine back up while in full movement without creating an exceedance and staying on centerline is quite difficult. Any chance you can get the same at the other end?

Next thing is where will you get the fuel? With the turbine you get great performance but on longer flights you will have to refuel every leg. Tankering fuel does not work very well. Can you refuel large amounts of JetA on site? Will you do a short VFR hop to some place to refuel on departure?

I have no experience with the Jetprop but the piston Mirage gear did not feel very happy when fully fueled to the tips so I would not want to operate it on gras except quite light which means you probably need a nearby place where you can do a quick fuel stop on departure anyway.

Grass strip? Red Diesel.

Cobalt wrote:

Grass strip? Red Diesel.

A good idea, but there is no point … JET A1 is prob the same price as red diesel and for either you would still be obliged to pay the fuel duty for flights within the UK, currently 57,95p litre.

Sebastian_G wrote:

Our Meridian takes quite some time to spool up the engine from idle if you do it carefully

Not with a Jetprop … its almost instant, every bit as quick as a piston engine, and easy not to exceed any limits

Sebastian_G wrote:

Can you refuel large amounts of JetA on site?

I bought a fuel bowser when I was based at an airfield with no Jet A1, worked perfectly for me and solved the prob of having to stop elsewhere on the way to refuel.

AFAIK a PT6 runs on “almost anything” as do most jet engines.

Some bizjets (not a PT6) are even allowed to burn 100LL, for a max of something like 50hrs and then a mandatory overhaul.

The legal position i.e. what the POH says, I don’t know.

Peter wrote:

(not a PT6) are even allowed to burn 100LL

This is what the book says ….

Avgas??? Wow… Amazing what a PT6 can do.

This might be an urban myth, but I recall reading once that a PT6 can run on Mezcal. Not sure that’ll be any cheaper, but if you find yourself stuck in Mexico…

I’m probably a bit younger than the average SET buyer. Still, I learned (and do so more and more) that it’s not beneficial to become too emotionally attached to “things”.

It’s a plane, use it, sell it, buy another one… the amounts we are talking here are substantial as is and the regulars here can spot a lemon from far away.

OP mentions he is not getting younger. If I wanted a Jetprop, I’d give https://flycasey.com a call, tell him in clear terms what I want, and get it (done), today rather than tomorrow. It will probably cost 20k or so extra, but it’s worth it.

Maybe venture a bit into the Jetprop ownership circles on top, you never know what might come up (Europe is a tiny market).

To each his own, some people like the hunt, others like to eat. The good (and bad) thing in GA is you can fix most of these issues with money.

Looking back at some of the upper level GA acquisitions I tended to, they sometimes turn into months, even years, of arduous journeys, while spending 200k more on a several hundred K transaction could have had the buyers flying within a short time period, without all the hassle, two years sooner.

Yes, one might snap up the perfect “deal”, but during the years of headaches, the other guy who bought right away for a little more has been flying 500 hours. Who really had the better deal?

A turbine could run on flour probably ;)