Re: Best Single Pilot IFR Plane

My insurance doesn't require anything except annual recurrent training at
one of two places.  Other than that requirement, there are no restrictions.

Mike
MU-2






"markjen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > The original poster said that he wanted to be able to get places on a
> > schedule.  What that requires depends on where you are and where you are
> > going, but to me it requires radar, known ice, high altitude capability
> and
> > range.
>
> I think there are two issues here:  suitability for single-pilot use and
> capability to tackle weather.  The two sorta work against one another -
> probably the easiest to fly plane IFR is something like an 182, but you're
> not going to be tackling much weather.  Conversely, a plane like Mike's
MU-2
> is very capable, but you've got to ante up to very high proficiency
> standards.  (Mike, are your insurers Ok with you flying alone in clouds?
> I've heard they're starting to get very sticky about turbines twins being
> flown single-pilot.)
>
> In reality, we don't choose planes that are good for single-pilot IFR - we
> choose planes that suit our mission (and constraints, particularly costs)
> and then ante up what it takes to fly them safely IFR.  For me, a
> non-professional IFR pilot who gets maybe 5 hours a year actual in my
> non-iced heavy single, this means scrubbing a lot of flights.
>
> I think that is the big fallacy with new instrument pilots - that they can
> truly fly in any weather and can meet hard schedule committments.  It
takes
> a lot of airplane and a lot of training/experience to be able to
> consistently tackle IFR weather with reasonable risk.  I'd guess that on
any
> given mission, I can make it VFR 80% of the time.  IFR cuts my scrubs in
> half so I can go 890% of the time, but I still have a 10% scrub rate even
> with the the ticket.  Ice is the big issue for me.
>
> In reality, I use IFR more for flying security and convenience rather that

> tackling weather.  It's just a lot easier to file IFR and follow ATC's
> instructions rather than keeping track of everything yourself, especially
> with all the airspace restrictions these days.
>
> - Mark
>
>