OK, fair enough, good points.

My big knock on the PA46 airframe (which I believe the M350 is still based on?) is that I simply don't fit in the pilot's seat. Even if I took a 4 week intensive yoga class, lost the rest of my hair, lost my "Holiday" weight, I still couldn't do it. I'm only 6'1" so I never understood why Piper didn't make it just a tad bigger.

This thread was an interesting read.
I love my 50yr old Skylane, 182J. She will climb to 10k' in about 15 minutes, cruises about 135kts, gets airborn in 700' and I can get her down and stopped in less than 400' without much thought. Hard to beat. However I am thinking of selling soon and maybe going for something under $40k, like a basic early V tail.

Nate,

What RPM did you cruise in the Cirrus? What would have been wrong with dialing. Ack to say 2200-2300RPM?

The throttle and blue knob are one in the Cirrus. Take off at 2700 - pull back to cruise at 2500.

There is an aftermarket STC for a blue knob, but I've never flown with it.

This thread is getting longer, and it's easy to forget previous posts, but I'd decided to go get the Cirrus and try some different things, when the final offer came in. I'm not saying I couldn't make the SR work by staying low and slow; just saying the 182 is a better fit for me overall, with the goals I have in mind, and I have a better chance of lengthening my ability to fly.

BINGO!

Something to think about.

I still think the answer we should all have with why we own a certain aircraft should be, "Because that's what I want to fly..."

and

To why we might be selling the answer is, "Because I don't want to fly it anymore..."

It doesn't ever need to be more than that.

can you share with us all the different headsets you tried and the pros/cons from your perspective? it sounds like before you decided to sell the airplane it's fair to say you probably tried all of them to solve your problem

i just went to the lightspeed pFX and consider it to be the top of the market from my experience

Not THAT many different headsets. Was using Bose X before the problem started. After it began in the early stages, we had those couple of threads that discussed whether the noise canceling was hurting our hearing (and I still think it does).

In that, it came out that the Lightspeed Zulu's (at that time) had the best passive protection with the noise canceling off, so I reasoned that there was less electronic activity going on. Also, a few people said they had less ringing using them. Some also said they found them more comfortable - I didn't. The clamping was stronger (they did, afterall, have better passive protection), and I was still getting the extra ringing. I'd been using the A20's, and found them to be exceptionally comfortable, super quite to the physical hearing, and still producing the extra ringing.

I also put plugs in my ears beneath old DC's, and the Bose A20's. That should've worked, it seems, but it didn't. One problem it created was with passengers - the radio had to be too loud for their comfort. There wasn't enough individual controls to make the radio and the intercom consistent with me wearing ear plugs beneath the headphones. And (this is important) it made my voice loud in my head when I was talking. The plane is not the only thing that exacerbates the problem - if I talk a lot, the volume of my own voice has an effect.

It is within the realm that the amount I have to talk while flying is adding to the issue.

And lastly, as I said earlier, I had bought the Halo's, but couldn't give them a real try due to having tubes in ears. My last tube fell out around October, so I've already got them plugged in in the plane and waiting to try them. Hopefully tomorrow.

Well... that's harder. As it was for my V35B, when I sold it. I've never had a plane I don't want to fly anymore. Just a plane I want to fly, more, or it fits a purpose/mission better. Wish I never had to sell a plane I had. But... I do.

I started off the year with my 2nd flight in 50P, and fell in love with it today. First day, my approaches were too fast making landings frustrating; knew what the speed should be, but I'd look down and there I was at SR speeds again. Also, was use to the free castering nose wheel (hated that) in the SR, so I steered with rudder and carried the roll-out with some power to keep authority. Well, in the 182, ya gotta get off the rudder or you exit the center line, and since the first day was 25 mph winds, with descent x-wind component, that was also making me feel less piloty.

Today, I started with an LPV and flew the slower speed for the complete glide path - that helped get the feel of it. The next 5 landings felt great! Followed that up with some slow flight exercises, and some approach stuff at a neighbor airport.

I'm gonna like this plane a lot.

Might want to try one of the later PA46's. Also need to pay attention to how the seats are set up. They go back several more inches than they used to, now completely over the wing spar, they recline and lower, and Piper widened the cockpit an inch or 2 in ?2012/13. I am 6'2 in my mind 200 lbs, probably only 6'1 now with 51 years of life. The guy flying my plane here in the pilots seat here is at least 6'3. Even at 6'1, I sometimes will pull the seat forward 1-2 notches. The hard part is learning the technique to get into the seat, once there it is very comfortable. The getting in part becomes second nature after a few reps. Redded out the faces of the guys demoing, don't want to out them, they may be jumping ship to the Piper family from another well known brand

Thanks, I may have to check out the later models if I can keep from peeing myself after reading the financial threads.

Regardless, good info, that's what I love about BT.

I fit about like that guy in the left seat, without the cutout in the headliner the headset would scrape. Legs were ok though. In ear headset, seat rails flipped and possibly a modified seat cushion and I could make a PA46T work, I'm 6'4".

I'm gonna like this plane a lot.


Congrats on the 182. I have loved my 182P that I picked up in September. I find the time to go up 2-3 times a week, just for half-hour or so, just for fun. Would not have done that in my Baron. And even better, my wife likes flying again. Something about looking down and not climbing on the wing, whatever...