There is no such thing as too much power.....

Now for a shot of realism: A 206 or Cherokee 6 is a LOT of airplane for someone with your experience. Yes, either will do that job, at least half the time. But, with absolutely minimal flight experience and pretty heavy and a little demanding airplanes, IF you use good judgement, you're going to miss as much as land. A little wind, weather, etc. An instrument rating doesn't even come close to instantly qualifying you to challenge the weather gods if the going gets nasty, and I'm pretty sure that part of the country can and does get nasty.

All that said, I would NOT suggest planning a 206 into the strip you initially described until you have AT LEAST a few hundred hours in the airplane, and when I say "hours" I'm not talking point to point on autopilot, I'm talking working the airplane, and working it hard, because taking a 206 or a Sled into or out of a 2700 foot strip with big trees is NOT a simple task. And, with 800 pounds of people and enough gas to go anywhere......

Can it be done? Yes, absolutely. Can it be done reliably, as in all weather? Not even. So, if you NEED to get home to get back to work.....better have a chat with the bosses, because there will be times when you have to sit it out.

But, in any case, to do this safely, you are going to have to put in a huge amount of effort to get proficient in the airplane. And, again, flying instrument approach procedures is great, but it does not necessarily prepare you for a pretty short runway with obstacles.

I, like many, learned in a 172, bought a 182, then traded up to a 206. I think I was at about 350-400 hours when I bought my 206 and I felt ready for it. The good news is that all the tricycle gear Cessnas, in my experience (I even have a few hours in a Caravan) handle pretty similarly. That said, you’re busier in a 206 vs a trainer. It’s a handful on the takeoff roll, it requires diligent heat management, and just generally is a bit heavier and a lot more powerful. That said, once you get a hang for it, it’s the ideal piston aircraft IMO. It just does almost everything reasonably well. And, getting meaningfully better performance in any particular mission would generally require a significant setup up in purchase and operating cost (read: turbine).

That said, I will reiterate what others have already said: a 206 will absolutely do what you want to do. However, you’ll need to approach this all with caution and good judgement to keep from bending metal or worse.

mtv wrote:There is no such thing as too much power.....

Now for a shot of realism: A 206 or Cherokee 6 is a LOT of airplane for someone with your experience. Yes, either will do that job, at least half the time. But, with absolutely minimal flight experience and pretty heavy and a little demanding airplanes, IF you use good judgement, you're going to miss as much as land. A little wind, weather, etc. An instrument rating doesn't even come close to instantly qualifying you to challenge the weather gods if the going gets nasty, and I'm pretty sure that part of the country can and does get nasty.

All that said, I would NOT suggest planning a 206 into the strip you initially described until you have AT LEAST a few hundred hours in the airplane, and when I say "hours" I'm not talking point to point on autopilot, I'm talking working the airplane, and working it hard, because taking a 206 or a Sled into or out of a 2700 foot strip with big trees is NOT a simple task. And, with 800 pounds of people and enough gas to go anywhere......

Can it be done? Yes, absolutely. Can it be done reliably, as in all weather? Not even. So, if you NEED to get home to get back to work.....better have a chat with the bosses, because there will be times when you have to sit it out.

But, in any case, to do this safely, you are going to have to put in a huge amount of effort to get proficient in the airplane. And, again, flying instrument approach procedures is great, but it does not necessarily prepare you for a pretty short runway with obstacles.

Hey guys, thanks for the reality checks.

I agree that there's no such thing as too much power, but there is such thing as a budget

I flew enough hours in New England as a UH60 crew chief to know I don't want to get myself into any serious weather in a single engine piston aircraft. I don't expect I'll maintain a high enough level of proficiency to safely fly hard IFR. I always have the option to scrap the mission and drive, so I primarily want to get my IR as a safety measure, and to have the option to fly some light IFR to an airport like SLK, which has become the base case for this mission since my initial post. It's only 25 mins further of a drive versus the grass strip.

I don't want to buy something I'll outgrow almost immediately, but am definitely open to considering something smaller, like a PA28-235 if y'all think it would be a better fit. I think I can learn to manage a constant speed prop. I expect that the feel would be relatively similar to the -160 I've been flying. I'll post in the Piper subforum to see if guys think it would be reasonable for me to step up from a PA28-160 to a PA28-235 or PA32-260. I honestly don't know whether it's realistic to skip rungs in the ladder or not, but I do see what I think looks like a solid deal on a -260 that could be my forever plane.

Whatever I buy, I plan to get a bare minimum of 25 hours of dual time in it, and am open to budgeting more. Then I want to get my IR, which I assume would add at least another 50 hours. I think now might be the a good time to buy based on how much dual time I'm planning to get.

I'd also make sure to get plenty of training to fly into the grass strips, whether I end up in a -235 or a -260. I'd keep my mission plan to SLK until I'm feeling really confident getting into the grass strips. The car would be staged at SLK even after I'm feeling confident, and I could always divert there if things aren't feeling right.

But just to reiterate, this is not a do or die mission, and I consider myself conservative and very self-aware of my capabilities when it comes to my go/no-go decisions. I should also mention that I'm blessed to work remotely, so it's not the end of the world if I don't make it back home till Monday.

Cheers

Which Direction from 1E8 are you trying to go? Sounds like East toward Tupper? I’ve got a buddy with a strip about 15nm SW he flies his 260 hp M7 to from Clinton, CT to get to his camp on Lake Bonaparte. He also keeps a champ with a O-320 on the field. Likely not helpful but worth checking.

tBatt wrote:Which Direction from 1E8 are you trying to go? Sounds like East toward Tupper? I’ve got a buddy with a strip about 15nm SW he flies his 260 hp M7 to from Clinton, CT to get to his camp on Lake Bonaparte. He also keeps a champ with a O-320 on the field. Likely not helpful but worth checking.

Hey, thanks for letting me know! The camp is at Cranberry Lake

Does he know of any strips closer to Cranberry? I’m still trying to get in touch with the new owner of the private strip at Tupper.

I’m thinking I should consider a Maule MT7-235. Useful load wasn’t enough for my original mission, but it is for the new more realistic one.

Thanks!