| Author | Message | ||
     Kelvin (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest |
Are there any Turbo powered Expresses flying? For those who are regular cross country and long distance flyers I am curious to know the thoughts on turbo powered vs not in the Express. I am likely going to purchase an Express for flying to Idaho from phoenix on a regular basis (about every 2 mos). I am also looking for an Insurance company for the express and since the company is not up and running I have had difficulty finding the Express insurable. If any of you have recommendations please speak up. | ||
| jkturner (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest |
Contact the EAA program through Falcon Insurance, they will write policies on the Express and have been pretty good to work with so far. The rate actully went down this year. I'm not sure about any Turbo Expresses flying, there was one under construction in San Jose several years ago but the builder passed away and his wife sold the aircraft, not sure where it ended up. I own an Express CT that was built by Jerry Sjostrand (360EZ) it is a great cross country airplane, 90 gallons @ 9 gph and 175 knots means you can cover a lot of ground before having to stop for fuel. Good luck on the search. | ||
| James Butler New member Username: Jim_butler Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2005 |
Do you mean turboprop, or turbocharged? | ||
| Kelvin (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest |
Turbocharged. Wow, those are pretty good numbers--175 kts burning 9 gph. What kind of engine do you have? | ||
| Charles King New member Username: Chazking Post Number: 7 Registered: 01-2005 |
Has anyone come across an engine with a supercharger application? | ||
| wayne (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest |
Have you actually flown turbo charged equipment? Any money you think you will save on gas at high alt will quickly disappear on maintenance, cylinder and turbo problems and reliablity goes down the crapper. Then oxygen stuff is over rated. I have flown my non charged 300hp EX2K to 18000' and only took 26 min to get there, but it is still not worth going that high. It only pays to go high one direction most of the time. If wx is an issue , better to set it out then be up there in one of these plastic lighting rods. Yes, there has been a great new super charger set up on an Express, ask where it is now. Unless you enjoy working on your plane more then getting in it and flying, stick to a normal asp. set up, and min. bells and whistles. But then that's what makes homebuilts so much fun, YOU get to do what you want, so have fun. | ||
| jkturner (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest |
Kelvin, No, my aircraft is not turbocharged it has a normally aspirated Continental IO-360ES 6cyl 210hp with 3 blade Hartzell prop. It won't climb as fast as the big engine (300hp) Expresses but it's certainly more efficient and economical and only 15 to 20 knots slower. I agree with Wayne, stick to a Non-Turbocharged set-up it'll save you a ton of money and headaches. I really wouldn't want to be in a plastic airplane in heavy weather. Light IFR is not a problem, but I would not risk being near any heavy precip/convective activity with or without Turbocharging. Just my 2 cents worth....the Express is a great airplane and does a lot of things really well. It would probably be the perfect plane to commute from Phoenix to Idaho most of time, just rely on the airlines during bad weather. |