Sol-Air lol
Solis Aer  (latin for Sun / Air )

• already exists : https://www.sol-air.com/ (but is not an airplane thing)

• Buy a couple eFlyer 2 airplanes and let Brett Aviation use them for training
• Build/buy a hangar to keep them all under one roof
• Install solar panels and Tesla power walls so the flying energy is 100% green
• Charge $42/hour to rent the plane (or lower if you could, but 42 is a good number (tach time instead of hobbs, only pay when using engine?))
  • Could we charge $25/hour hobbs maybe? that is 1/4 of Cessna 152 and puts in range of everyone?

Could also start without solar panels and have 3 airplanes lol.

• 2 planes is 1,000,000 (90kwhr each)
• 2 hangars is $1000/mo
• 12 tesla power walls $20k (13.5kwh each, $10k each) $120,000
• 360kwh
• 100kw solar panels (cost per watt $2.75) $275,000 4 hours / day average of sun for panels
• roughly 15 hours of flight time from solar (could use more from wall)
• $1.5 million dollars gets you 2 planes, and 15 hours of flight time per day from solar (or just pay per kwhr, coal plant is right across the water lol)
• Payment on 20 years is $6500/mo + hangar + insurance (say $9000 / mo)
  • 100% usage is 11,250 / mo (at $25/hr)
  • 75% usage is 8,437 / mo (at $25/hr)
  • 50% usage is 5,625 / mo (at $25/hr) ← under water but maybe? could just raise the rate a bit ($30?)

• just 2 planes is $1m dollars
  • $4500 / mo ?
  • $25/hr seems a good place to start is a nice round number and 1/4 of 152 or do you do $35 ?

• eFlyer2 Operating Cost

• VFR Cross Country

• This looks like a great way to do an autopilot that only uses trim tabs instead of moving the actual flight controls. http://www.trutrakap.com/product/eco/
• Shouldn't it just be able to land the plane automagically too? The new ones can, so the passengers are not on their own in an emergency (pilot out).

• https://electrek.co/2018/04/27/all-electric-trainer-plane-airworthiness-certification-faa-us/ According to this article, a one hour flight will cost about $3 of electricity. ( “claim an extremely low cost of operation (~$3 per flight at $0.15 per kWh)…”) But only good for 1000 hours… so you do have to replace the power packs… but maybe better battery management can help that out. (1.5 hour total endurance, so one hour of lesson / flying… 30 minutes reserve)

• https://planephd.com ← WOW, this is awesome
• Live air traffic control feeds can be found here. This is great fun to listen to.
• Trade-A-Plane is a great place to spend money you don't have.
• Aircraft For Sale Online (ASO) is another great place to spend money you don't have.
• ADS-B reception with a little SDR and dump1090 program

Here are the factors for me choosing a plane:

• Low wing (I like the look, and they handle turbulence better than high wing aircraft)
• 4 seats
• fast and efficient
• fixed pitch propeller
• fixed landing gear

First Plane Attributes: (in order from must have to would be nice) (2017 updated) Starting to care less about speed, because that comes with dollars up front and maintenance down the line… Who cares if it an extra 30 to 80 minutes to get somewhere, it still beats the hell out of driving. It has to be about cost. If you can get a plane under $35k then you can train in that plane.

• Fixed landing gear
• Four seats
• Fixed pitch propeller
• Throttle and mixture levers vs. knobs
• IFR Certified
• Autopilot
• Mogas STC

To that end, the following planes stand out for me for a first plane:

• Beech Musketeer / Sundowner
• Grumman AA5 (all of the 4 place singles are pretty awesome) Great Grumman Information
  • Non-mandatory but important service kit SK 125A ? (saw in a trade-a-plane add that you should not buy a Grumman without this kit?!)
• Piper Cherokee 180 (including: Archer, Dakota or Warrior)
• Socata TB-10

With unlimited funding, this looks like the path to take

Simple:

• Cessna 150/152 (you can get child seats in these)
• Cherokee 180 / Cessna 172 ← I may skip to here due to 4 family members
• Grumman / American General AA5B (has ground control issues due to braking)
• Cherokee 235 / 260 (if you want 6 seats)
• Lancair ES / Diamond DA40 / Cirrus 20

Complex:

• Beech A36 / Mooney / Meyers 200 (Something Fast)
• Piper Matrix
• Piper Merdian (something pressurized)
• Lancair ES-P / Columbia 300 or 400 (The Lancair dominates with pressurized cruising)
• EADS Socata TBM 850 or pressurized Piper (Mirage)
• Cirrus Vision Jet

Unless you fly a lot, renting is always going to be cheaper. Nice to have your own plane, but you'll pay! Why not just try renting for a while and see how often you use it? I did for a while, was great but didn't set aside the funds in the budget to keep it up.

• Cozy Mark IV would be my first choice with a DeltaHawk Diesel motor. ( Cozy Forum) (Cozy Builder's Forum)
• Vans RV-10 is a great 4 place.

One option would be to go somewhere with good weather (Arizona comes to mind) and just concentrate on flying for three weeks and get as much done as possible. (It would be nice if I could base out of Tempe (Chris!!), but if not, this works:

• http://north-aire.com/flight-school/accelerated-classes/
  • Found a one bedroom apartment for $1776 for 16 days
  • Car would be $700

Being able to base out of Chris's house! Wow, that seems like a good plan!

• https://arizona-flight-training-and-instruction.com/accelerated-private-pilot-training/ ← set aside at least 3 weeks maybe more
• http://eliteflighttraining.com/
• https://scottsdaleflighttraining.com/private-pilot-training/
• http://www.sierracharlieaviation.com/SDL-AZ/accelerated-flight-training.arizona.html
• http://www.westwindaviation.com/
• http://wrightflighttraining.com/instruction/ ← owner / operator… one guy, one airplane

• http://www.doubleeagleaviation.com/locations.php ← 18 day private pilot for $9k
  • https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tusca-courtyard-tucson-airport/ ← $90 / day Marriott and could walk to the airport. Don't even need a car. This has a pool, internet and free breakfast. Hotel would be aboue $1700 so roughly 10k done and done. I kind of like the sound of this!

Could always just stay on the trail and commute to Salisbury

• Bayland is $145 for the plane and $40 for the instructor.
• http://baylandaviation.com/aircraft-rentals--flight-instruction.html

• NOTE: Dave and Cate Easmunt are based out of their air park here at 42KY

You probably won't get people to be in the plane longer than 4 hours at a stretch… so either you get a fast enough plane to get there in 4 hours, or make a stop and plan for an extra hour in there.

• Trade a Plane Search: 4 seats, less than 6000 hours, less than 50k dollars
  • Fixed Gear
    • Beechcraft Sundowner (slow)
    • Cessna 172 or 170
    • Grumman Cheetah (useful load not so useful as the kids get bigger)
    • Piper Cherokee 140/160
    • Piper Cherokee 180
    • Piper Cherokee 235
    • Piper Tripacer
    • Stinson 108
  • Retractable Gear: (oh my)
    • Beechcraft G35
    • Mooney 21E
    • Piper Comanche 180 (gear.. .but forgot that I really like this plane)

• Distance 425nm

• Distance 730nm (6h is 121.67 kts, 5h that is 146kts, 4h is 182.5kts)
• Planes for a 5 hour trip
  • Grumman AA5
• Planes for a 4 hour trip
  • Meyers 200
  • Mooney

• Portland 380nm

• Distance 395nm

• Found this Mooney 201 on Trade-A-Plane 2018-09-24 1977_mooney_m20j_201_fractionalownership_15k_gaithersburgmd.pdf

• Garmin GFC 500 Autopilot: Will be ~ $10k (hopefully)
  • With heading magnetometer
  • Requires either 430W or 5XX or 7XX for coupled approaches

• Training