PAYDAY!

Yeeehar!

7 flights, one Caravan and 00AL later and a cool $19million payout

The only thing is - it doesn't feel right. I've only been in business a week, and I somehow imagined being able to upgrade after a week or two to maybe a Twin Otter or something similar. Then every couple of weeks getting a slightly better plane and larger facilities.

Instead, after just a week, I've already got enough to buy a BAC 1-11 300, flying a potential 38,950lbs. So what would next week's pay packet then look like?

With what I have I could get TWO Dash 8 Q202s. It just don't seem right.

So I'm wondering if maybe I should stash a little away towards my goal of a C-130 ($118million) doing trans-American runs between North and South continents. Maybe get a DC-3 or similar and make my business path reflect what I was actually expecting it to be?

Decisions decisions....mebbe I should give (Sir) Alan Sugar a ring...

Well I finally decided. It was so difficult that I spent several hours flying all the aircraft that fitted into the picture (i.e. were affordable and suitable) to see which would be best to acquire next.

The Caravan got replaced with an ex-Loganair Twin Otter. It's quite cheap at $3m and can land and take off in half the space of the Caravan whilst carrying 1,900lbs more and having a longer range. This operates from the base I was using for the Caravan and will be used for the lighter loads.




I then wanted to buy a purpose-built mid-range cargo aircraft that wouldn't cost too much, so I could save some cash for my next upgrade. There are plenty such aircraft on the market, but two stood out above the rest and test-flights confirmed that both were excellent birds to fly, stable, with no nasty surprises and excellent models and VCs to boot:

The Antonov 26:



And the Hawker Siddely Andover:



The Antonov has a better STOL capability, but the Andover carries 6,000lbs more cargo. They have the same range.

In the end, I went for the Andover. Next payday I'll get the Antonov.
The next problem was getting a runway wide and long enough for this aircraft. I had to make quite a step up, because the wheeltrack is quite wide, but found just the job at KFYM Fayetteville. And I still have $7m in the kitty (from the $20m after pay and selling the Cessna).

Looking forward to a fun couple of weeks with these two aircraft - I won't get a bigger plane until then at least, just add a more southerly airstrip next week for the Antonov.

Happy Hauling, guys!

Ha - yeah, and will set me back a cool $118million - which I don't have a small part of yet!

At least, the Capt Sim Herc costs that - you can get a cheaper 'static VC' one for slightly less - but that'd be sacrilege

In the meantime - have a look at both the An26 and the An24 - they have excellent VCs on excellent flight models in both FS9 and FSX. Respect to their makers - the models, that is - don't think I'd risk a flight in a real one, not on any sane day, anyways...

The ones I've seen at Waddington looked distinctly second-hand, too. I've flown in an Andover, though, on engine-loss training (ie switching an engine off in flight) and I liked it.