After almost 50 years of flying everything from 150s to Boeings and A lot in between I was recently posed this question. Qualifications would be …

an airplane that’s capable of comfortably carrying at least 3 people on a 750 mile trip or more. In other words real transportation. I’m not talking about turboprops or jets either but something that is more in line with the average private pilot. I’ll start off with my selection the Cessna TTX. Probably the nicest flying airplane. I’ve ever flown equipped with the G2 thousand it represents everything a comfortable aircraft should be transport wise in the single engine piston line. I’d be interested to hear other thoughts.

Bonanza! This is Beechtalk you know.

Tom Swift's Triphibian Atomicar

The one you can afford?

Reminds me of the story (someone here will know who first said this) that goes:

A guy flying an old tail dragger sees a newer faster single go by, and wishes he had that. That pilot wants a twin, whose pilot wants a turboprop, whose pilot wants a jet, whose pilot wants to fly the Big Iron. Meanwhile, the Big Iron Captain looks down from his flight levels and sees the old tail dragger and wishes he was flying that instead.

Be happy with what you do get to fly, as someone else envies you....

Phil

Philosophically I agree, but let’s talk nuts and bolts here. As to the gentleman that suggested Bonanza I love them.. have owned 3, but found their turbulence induced tail wag in the tail not so nice (I owned 2 v tails). The G36 was nice but didn’t feel as solid as the TTX.

The 182 and 206 are fine candidates too…

If you are talking about planes that are currently available new, piston 750nm 3 people. Certainly the G36 is there. The TTx not really made anymore, but a good choice. I like the M350, as the ultimate piston single for comfort and capability. The Cirrus SR22. The DA50 prob comes up a little short on range. Some good choices though.

I'm a big fan of the Columbia/TTX. In fact, I almost bought one 15 years ago before I bought my A36. Two factors led me to the A36. We travel with a large dog so loading it onto the wing and into the back seat was not ideal. More importantly, my wife is known to pack half the closet on longer trips.

Doesn't the TTX have a full fuel payload of less than 500 lbs? That seems tight for 3 people and bags.

I find myself looking at the Lancair ES-P quite a bit.

Never been in any of the series but I thought they shared TTX ancestry.

Depends, as you have too many subjective qualities in there.

A Mooney would be great, but half (or more) of the people on this forum will say it doesn’t meet the comfort criteria.

My Comanche does pretty well on that, I’ve always preferred the wider-than-tall cabin of the Comanche over the taller-than-wide cabin on the Bonanza; many here will vehemently disagree with that!

182 is a great choice, though most would be a bit challenged to do 750nm with 3 people on an average day with reserves.

I usually prefer the wheels in the proper places, so I’d vote 180/185 instead, anyway! But does that meet your “average private pilot” requirement today? Probably not….

The M350 isn’t a bad choice, or an older Malibu.

Where you go also makes a difference. Over mountains, turbo a plus, and pressurization if you can get it. If destination includes shorter/rougher strips, probably headed a different way.

I think the right answer depends a lot more on who is asking and what they need/want than the airplanes themselves....

Phil

I'm a big fan of the Columbia/TTX. In fact, I almost bought one 15 years ago before I bought my A36. Two factors led me to the A36. We travel with a large dog so loading it onto the wing and into the back seat was not ideal. More importantly, my wife is known to pack half the closet on longer trips.

Doesn't the TTX have a full fuel payload of less than 500 lbs? That seems tight for 3 people and bags.

I have owned 37 airplanes and the one I love the most is the last P210 made. Dual intercooled, long range tanks, pressurized and fast with the new wing. Wish I still had it?

Did it have Air Conditioning?

Corvalis or Cirrus would be a "modern" contender.

Beech Staggerwing checks a bunch of boxes: radial, antique, biplane, retract, fabric, tailwheel, totally cool, reasonably fast, cross country, big cabin. In a similar vein, how about a Spartan Executive?

Mike C.

The achilles heal of these composite planes is their empty weight and lack of useful load. They become 2 seaters if you need the range. At one point a SR22 had a payload of less than 400 lbs.

As a comparison, my TN A36 has 750 lbs of payload with 114 gallons of usable fuel. I can fly nearly the same speed (200 kts) carrying 750 lbs over 1,000 nm.

The M350 is a very capable airplane with speed, range, payload, and pressurization. That is probably the most capable single out there but at $1.5 million I would rather buy a TP.

P51