RV-15?

[airguy]

Saw this today on Avweb - Diamond twin with turbodiesels, new selling price is $1.25 MILLION freaking dollars, cruise speed of 201 knots.

The twin-engine market is definitely there, the strong desire for dual engines among a certain segment of the marketplace is undeniable. I just can't believe it really takes anything close to this price point to make it happen. Replace the turbodiesels with IO360's for the same horsepower and it should be in the $200k-$250k range. Even with the stupid selling price of the current turbodiesels to give long range at high altitude and it should stay under $350k.

Surely someday Vans will work on a twin?

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news...-225736-1.html

[F1R]

[quote=airguy;1056614]Saw this today on Avweb - Diamond twin with turbodiesels, new selling price is $1.25 MILLION freaking dollars, cruise speed of 201 knots.

There never has been any strong point in chasing the bottom of the market
We poffers fly rockets and RV 10's. It is always humbling to be reminded where we fit in in the financial aviation food chain.

[rmartingt]

I seriously doubt there would be enough people truly willing and ready to put real money on the table for such an airplane to make it worth doing (that is, profitable to Van's). And anyone with that kind of money could go buy a used certified twin (if htey really wanted a twin) and fly/maintain it for a while with the money it would cost just to build a homebuilt twin. Or they could buy/build a -10 and another airplane or two to go with it.

Plus, now you bring up issues of pilot proficiency, insurance, maintenance costs, etc. and that further depresses the potential market.

There's a reason there are so few homebuilt twins on the market, and so few new certified ones being sold (IIRC the majority of those are sold to businesses and flight schools). Most individuals have discovered it's just not worth it.

This does bring to mind a discussion I had with an FAA guy in the "small aircraft" certification branch, who didn't quite get the idea that his turbocharged Baron was well out of reach of even the dreams of most private airplane pilots... I believe my exact words were "[the Baron] might as well be a 757 or F-22 as far as I'm concerned, as I'm just as likely to own and fly one of those".

[airguy]

I suppose the comments about the dollar values and the homebuilt market are accurate. I would not build a twin personally, but it's mainly about the efficiency aspect for me - I don't want to double my fuel burn and maintenance for a marginal increase in speed and carrying capacity. The folks with enough money to do so don't care about efficiency.

[deek]

There have been 3,000 to 4,000 Variezes and LongEZ's built, but only about a dozen twin engine Defiants.

[Palamedes]

I love the idea of a Defiant.. I'm just scared of working with fiberglass. =p

I personally would like to see the RV-11 sailplane before I'd like to see the twin. I agree that the market would be small, but not impossibly so.

I just wonder if it would be worth their effort.. I don't think so.

[airguy]

Originally Posted by Palamedes

I just wonder if it would be worth their effort.. I don't think so.

Why should this be a restraint? Let's just pull a Bernie Sanders and make it happen!

(ducking and running for cover...)

[grubbat]

A lot of builders have heartburn when It comes to buying one engine. Lycoming may like the deal but not sure how many builders would op for a twin.

[StuBob]

Google Zenair Gemini. It was pretty cool (tail dragged option!), but got shelved in 1996.

[Alex Edwards]

I wonder if something with twin rotaxes like the P2006T would work.
http://www.tecnam.com/aircraft/p2006t/

Imagine if it had similar performance to an RV-10 with less fuel burn. 2 of the rotax engines cost about the same as a 540 lycoming.