Light Turboprops

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Dear All,

I noted a question concerning noise of aircrafts ... Which led me to
think, it is still possible to find planes for rent in the US.

Does anyone know where I could rent a turboprop ?

A friend told me that some years ago, he had rented a Piper Cheyenne
in California, but was unable to tell where ...

I also heard there was one possibly for rent in Long Island, but never
managed to find further details.

I would need to get some training in PA 31 (or 42) or BE 90 (or 200)
... Any clues ?

I Thank you in advance.

KSL

-- Sun Lines, August 18, 2003

Answers

If you are looking to get training in the aircraft solely for the sake of training, adding to your logbook, or simply fun then I suspect you would be able to find such place. Though, I suspect they would be rare. Unfortunately, I don't know of anywhere to get turboprop training off the top of my head.

If you are looking to eventually be able to take the airplane out on your own I think you are never going to find this opportunity. Aircraft insurance is out of control and I am postivie that you won't find anybody to rent to you a turbine powered aircraft. Even if you did, you can be sure that it would be a least a couple hundred dollars per hour, if not more. I once heard of a Cessna Caravan for rent at around $700 / hour, but that was 5 or 7 years ago.

It all depends on your eventual goal for renting. In either case let us know what you discover.



-- Bradrick Pretzer, August 18, 2003

Hi Again !

Thank you Brad (Hope I'm not mispelling ... too much) for your attempt ...

To answer your question (= what it the purpose ?), I have to go back to European regulations ...

As you may know, there is a Joint Aviation Authority, now, in Europe.

It has published the Joint Aviation Regulations (JARs) on a number of topics...(and European Administrations are expected to implement them).

JAR-FCL 1 covers Flight Crew Licensing ...

It defines, among others, a number of Class Ratings and Type Ratings.

One type rating covers, for example PA 31T and PA 42. Another covers BE 90 / 99 / 100 /200 ...

A type rating is valid one year (and may be quite hard to get). During that year you are expected to fly some 10 sectors, after which a test will provide you with another year of validity, and so on ...

I was therefore trying to evaluate how "easy" it could be to fly some of those 10 sectors in the US (or Canada) as, at least, fuel is much cheaper there.

In Italy, I've seen prices for JET A1 over one US Dollar per liter !

Hence the question.

Clearly, flying such 10 sectors, is "only fun" if you do it on your own ... Flying it "dual" or such like, just for the sake of passing a test ... year after year, would not, for me, make it worth the money spent... All supposing I wouldn't be broke before !

Thanks for your clues (and views) ...

K S L

-- Sun Lines, August 26, 2003