I was a corporate pilot a few former life's ago. I had good days and bad and good employers and bad. It's was really fun to fly on somebody elses dime for awhile, but the 2am wake-ups got old. Working for the airlines was a better job but that got old too for different reasons.

I'm far happier teaching in a 182 than I would be in either of those jobs at this point in my life. I just made an offer on a nice -10 690B and will find out this week if they accept. Ever since I started yanking the gear in corporate KA's, I dreamed of owning a turbo prop. It's been so cool reading about JC's move into the PC12 and the adventures that followed, I couldn't help but dream of creating my own turbo-prop adventures!

Jason, the group that did some of the work on my Aerostar before I brought it back to Canada had a P180 that they owned/maintained. I think you are correct to be concerned. I was told that they did not really consider maintenance when it was designed. For example, I believe to get at the pressurization outflow valve the entire bathroom had to be removed.

Glenn

MX is the only bad story I've heard on the P180. Having to fly to NJ or south florida to get it worked on would be a pain. I'm not sure that's true but just what I've been told.

I truly don't see why they aren't as popular as the PC12 though. They do a lot more than most jets.

I also fly a Citation X. I was on the ramp a couple of weeks ago at Portland Oregon and struck up a conversation with the pilot of a V35 sitting on the ramp. As a fellow V35 owner, I was much more interested in talking to him about his plane!

With Avantair on the outs could be a lot of P180's hitting the market.

Jason - what about a Cheyenne 400? 335 KTAS, FL410 is pretty nice.

Matthew,
Sent you a PM. The airport KUNV is good. Really only one runway 6-24. First game day yesterday was easy. Might be busier with a big rival like Michigan or Ohio State. FBO has always been good to us. Treated the same in the Lear as in the Bo! University literally 10 minutes from airport.

John, I had a good friend that set the around the World speed record in a -10 Commander in 1982. It still stands today. Unless someone attempts to break it.

It's really just a matter of physics, nothing more.

eta_p = (2 * v/c) / (1 + v/c)^2

where eta_p is propulsive efficiency, c is the exhaust speed, and v is the speed of the aircraft.

A corollary of this is that, particularly in air breathing engines, it is more energy efficient to accelerate a large amount of air by a little bit than a small amount by a large amount, even though the thrust is the same.

Physics itself explains why a turbofan is more efficient than a turbojet, explains why we keep making turbofans with larger fans and higher bypass ratios and why a turboprop will almost always be more efficient than a jet.

Jets are inherently less efficient than propeller driven aircraft due to the smaller volume of air they propel. Less efficiency means higher fuel burn and the need to carry more fuel.

The PC12 is going to be very tough to beat from a utility / efficiency standpoint.