I’m really liking the Vtwin videos I’ve been seeing. I have a C310, this plane looks comparable and potentially cheaper to own and operate. There is a really nice one down in Oceanside CA I need to go see. Previously the owner had a Baron and moved on to this experimental. I’m wondering if maint cost aren’t going to drive us all to experimental.

I wonder what the insurance situation will be like for the V-twin and the new 6 seat twin. I can’t think of anything like them in the experimental market to use as a measuring stick.

I don't know much about them except they remind me of the Beech Starship in design; a plane we don't hear much about on Beech Talk. Not many owners I guess.

The one at oceanside is a beautifully crafted bird. Given that I'm not sure it's going to be better than a well sorted 310, unless your really skilled and can't find an a+p to let you do more of the work on the 310.

I know that plane. He started building not long after I finished up mine. It's been flying since around 2018. It's a nice one. Got AC too. I think he's running XP-360's. IIRC, his cruise speed is only around 170kts.

Insurance is the catch. The guy who got his twin airworthiness inspection on the same day as mine, has his on the market now. Two years ago his insurance was $6k with a $25K deductible. I'm sure it's much higher now and is one reason he's selling (he's got a Baron too).

I think that you have to balance that high insurance cost against the yearly maintenance cost. I know that my most expensive annual was about $500 and the repair from a nose gear collapse was about $1,000. On a certificated airplane, that repair would have been a LOT more. So compared to the insurance & maintenance cost on the Cessna 182RG, I definitely came out ahead with the Velocity... And did it 33% faster.

The maintenance cost really is what’s driving me to want one. I can fix almost anything and the fact that I can’t really work on my own plane is bothersome. I wish I had an A&P buddy that would sign me off, after I retire I may try and go to school to get the certificate. I have 550s on my 310 so it cruises at about 195knts, on 26 an hour at 9000 ft. I do like the ability to haul 6 and stuff or 4 and a lot of stuff.
I had not considered the insurance piece on an experimental.

I really like the look of them and would probably consider it more in depth had it been pressurized and de-iced.

From a Canadian perspective... (Likely very similar in the USA but I'm not in a mood to go digging through the FARs today to confirm.)

One aspect of owning an amateur-built aircraft is the large shift in responsibility that comes with it. In the certified world somebody is generally watching out for you, telling you what can and can't be done, what must and must not be done etc.

In the amateur-built world, responsibility for the airworthiness of the aircraft rests solely on the aircraft owner. Have a prop strike? It's up to you, the owner, to determine how to proceed in returning the aircraft to airworthiness. You get to check which of Lycoming's and Hartzell's service instructions you're going to follow, or ignore. In a certified airplane the A&P is going to tell you what needs to be done. This is a big shift in responsibility and the owner of an amateur-built aircraft needs to be prepared to take on this level of responsibility.

That having been said, the V-Twin is compelling. I haven't yet had the opportunity to fly a Velocity but have experience in a reasonably close relative, the Cozy Mk IV. It's a very different experience as compared to flying a conventional cruciform aircraft.

Not being able to work on my plane was the primary driver for me as well. Fortunately, I had an A&P/IA who let me do a lot of my own work and then inspected and signed off on it.

The other was the instrumentation and parts cost. Being required to buy a part that has an FAA blessing when it's the same part that in the non-aviation world was a fraction of the cost annoyed me. At the time I selected my panel hardware, the Garmin option was many thousands more than the Grand Rapids EFIS I installed. And the support from GRT was better than anything I ever got from Garmin.

And you definitely should check on insurance cost before going down this road. Personally, I think the tradeoff is worth it. But YMMV.

Don - as a big GRT fan I'm curious to know what you've got in your panel. Care to share a photo?

Our Sportsman has a 6.5" HX EFIS, the 7" Sport EX EFIS and the Mini-X EFIS as the third attitude source. Engine monitoring is via the remote-mounted EIS-66R and the Sport EX generally is dedicated to displaying engine data.

It still puts a smile on my face when I see how much information is available to me and how well everything works together, even without the FAA having sprinkled their holy water on it!

I talked to Duane Swing at their both at OSH ‘21 and asked about this. He said they won’t do a pressurized version because of the complexity required since it’s still a home built airplane. He felt it would open up too much liability.

I really, REALLY would want one of it was pressurized.

I flew it and did a pilot report for Kit Planes several yesrs ago.

It is by far the nicest flying Canard that I've flown. (not many)

But it is no faster and didn’t fly any better on ene engine than a Twinkie and has a lot less cabin volume, and I wondered about cabin heat.

With all that said, it is a cool airplane.

A pair of 10.4" HXr's with a GTN625 (they couldn't get the bugs out of their IFR remote GPS). The EIS box is located on the rear bulkhead.

It really was a pleasure flying behind the GRT's. It had more bells and whistles than I ever needed. The primary AHRS had an issue inflight once in hard IMC. The A/P automatically switched over the secondary without a bump. My first indication of a problem was a "ding" from the EFIS.

The new 6 seat version has a cabin that is 4" wider and 4" taller, in addition to the extra length.

Starship is a cool bird; my friend owns two and maintains a 3rd at his company. I've flown right seat with him a few times.