Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Buy 150/152 now or finishing flight training.

I think the consensus is in...definetly going to keep on my path to buying. I am certainly going to think twice about flying into IMC. Below is a sample of my mission profile:

Frequent Trips (From KTYQ)
nm
KSMD 84
KCLE 216
KPWK 145
W91 358
KOSU 146
KLOU 111
KWAU 329

Question, is my trip to W91 (Smith Mountain Lake, VA) too far in a C150L with full fuel and two pax weighing a total of 410lbs?

Brian,

I'll be a contrarian here - when I owned my 150 I regularly flew it into IMC, however, never ice or thunderstorms. I made one trip over a two day period of well over 500 nm to attend a conference, about half of the trip was in IMC. Nevertheless, the challenge is to have a solid alternate within the range of the airplane. That is sometimes not possible, especially with widespread fog.

If you are going to be carrying that much occupant weight, you cannot carry full fuel, I usually figure only about 320 pounds in the cabin with full fuel, especially if IFR because the rate of climb really drops off if you are over gross, and that matter if you are going IFR and have to get to deal with minimum enroute altitude.

For the distances and weights you are considering, as much as I don't like to admit it, a 172 would work better.

The 172 is only about 10 knots faster than the 150 in real life, but the endurance makes a difference when dealing with being able to plan for an alternate when IFR.

Don't rule out the 150 for actual IFR - I've shot a bunch of approaches to minimums in them, they do just fine. They are easier in turbulence than, for example, the Grumman Cheetah or Tiger, but they still require effort. Plus, when you break out at minimums and there is an airliner holding short, it's kind of fun to realize that the 150 is every bit as capable as the blowtorch when it comes to shooting that approach.

Best regards,
Rick

Useable fuel on a 150 with standard tanks weighs 135lbs. Two people weighing 410lbs. total plus full fuel would require a plane with a useful load of 545lbs. That's pushing the upper limit of useful load for the various models. There's a huge difference between what Cessna said was the useful load and what individual planes have for useful load.

Now you have a number to look for though when considering a prospect.

The more equipment on the plane, the lower the useful load will be.

358NM is a bit far to be able to make it reliably in a 150 with standard tanks. With long range tanks, it might be doable. Long range fuel tanks would eat into the useful load when full.

I usually plan legs in the 200-250NM range for my plane with standard fuel tanks.

Ok, what about combined weight of my daughter and I flying to W91. Approx weight 255lbs.

255 + 135 = 390lbs. It'd be much easier to find a 150 with a useful load in that range.

A 150 burns around 5.5 gallons per hour at cruise. There are 22.5 usable gallons in the standard fuel tanks. This give about 4 hours of endurance. Leaving 30 minutes of fuel for a reserve gives an endurance of 3 hours, 30 minutes. At 80 knots, this is a range of approximately 280NM, about 100NM short of your destination. 80 knots might be a bit conservative.

I'm also assuming your distances are in Nautical Miles and not Statute Miles. If W91 is 358 Statue Miles distant, it would be 311NM, still a bit out of reach for a plane with standard tanks.

Long range tanks could probably make it. I'd think you would be able to find a 150 with long range tanks and enough useful load to be able to carry you and your daughter.

Didn't I read in a previous post that Tracy New's 150 has long range tanks?

Why are we assuming he can't stop to refuel?

Because that would be a PITA.

Brian,

Welcome to the best club around.

As far as IFR is conserned I agree with GPB. If you have a IFR rating and fly IFR a great deal of the time it is safe, but if you are not flying IFR a lot, then you can be a danger to yourself. I fly for fun only and do not fly in bad weather, so I have no need for an IFR rating.

By a 150/152 and save money while you learn and then you can have a better understanding of what to do next.



See you at Clinton?

BTW, my plan is to keep the plane for a very long time. I have no intention on "dumping" it when my training is complete. I have an incredibly patient and supportive wife (hence me joining the club and shopping for a plane) and three small children. If I ever need the two extra seats (which might be 10-15% of the time) I will simply rent a 172. Wife will not fly period! So it most likely will be one of my kids or my father flying with me from time to time. Otherwise, I will be making many business trips in the 150/152 for the mission profile I outlined previously in this thread.

Brian,

Best advice I can give you is.....if you are not an A&P, buy the BEST plane you can afford. Don't try to save money by buying something less expensive and thinking you'll "fix it up over time". Doing so will only cost you MUCH more in a surprisingly short amount of time. If you think you'd like to do a loop and roll now and then, take the time NOW to find yourself a nice Aerobat. Have an affinity for taildraggers? BUY ONE! Think you'll crave extra horsepower? Find a good 150/150!

I'll let others talk about the importance of a pre-buy inspection and how to get that done.