Fine! You got me!

M20J 300 Missile in snail mode.

Fine! You got me!

M20J 300 Missile in snail mode.

You don't have to climb up on a wing to get into a Cardinal.

Vince

You don't have to climb up on a wing to get into a Cardinal.

Vince

I can get my 88 year old old man into a Cardinal easier than I can get him into his car. J-3s to 747s, he says the Cardinal is the best plane to get in and out of. And they "are a sexy as PanAm's first class Stews." I can't post what he says about the Cirri, and he's happy they're keeping GA going.

That Cardinal is a great airplane, and as I posted earlier remarkably efficient. I like them enough that I own 2 of them. But let's be clear, if someone offered to trade my 177RG for a SR20 I would take that deal in a heartbeat! Composite construction (no corrosion!), parachute, no hydraulics, etc...

I get from 17 to 19 statute miles per gallon. I have seen as high as 21.8 but the average is around 19. Cheap to fly might be the only thing the 150 does well.

19 [statute] mpg at 186 [statute] mph. Hell of a snail you got there.

Fine! You got me!

M20J 300 Missile in snail mode.

Very few of us here buy an airplane to have the cheapest airplane to operate. Speed, climb rate, number of seats, useful load, blah, blah, blah are often more important.

That said.... I don't think there is any certified airplane that will beat the e-series bonanzas and 225 hp debonair's on fuel costs per mile when run on unleaded mogas.
Plus you get all the benefits of no tetra ethyl lead in the fuel today.

Leldon

Fuel efficiency denotes lower cost, but comparing airplanes requires looking at the big picture; acquisition, insurance, maintenance, including parachute system maintenance.

A plane costing half of what a Cirrus does in acquisition and the other costs, yet burning more fuel can be the more cost effective airplane in the approximate performance category.

IIRC, Richard Bach once commented in a book he bought the fuel for his T-33 with the money he saved by not buying a Learjet (or something like that).

I'd guess that's the original 201 analog oil pressure gauge and the IO-550 Missile engine runs at lower pressure? Continental seem to suggest 30-60psi for normal operation. That does make me curious as to whether the OEM oil gauge should be replaced as part of the conversion.

I have a pamphlet published back in the 1960s about the early 35s. Many of those models were capable of 20 smpg, though not reaching the speeds of some of the modern rockets.