16/3/2010
Flew to Santa Maria this afternoon. Fuelled the aircaft and packed them for tomorrow's flight to Hilo.
We have fuelled to maximum and hope to make Hilo in about 13.5 hours. The current forecast winds are for an average 5 knot headwind, which would make it about 14 hours.
Our initial climb will be to 6000' and we hope to get a block altitude clearance to allow us to fly between 6000' and 8000' as Ray says the tops of the clouds will be around 6000' to 6500'.
Based on TAS of 152 knots, the Mooney, as a four seater with one pilot and low fuel burn has by far the best range with about 20 hours. For six seater all round performance, the Saratoga stands out with both range of 17 hours, easy loading and no difficulty with aft C of G. The new Bonanza G36 is struggling for range with about 15.5 hours and difficulty loading due to aft C of G. Ray, flying the Bonanza wants to swap our C of G for his C of G. Lyn and I declined.
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