lryansjr 0 Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Hello all this is my first post here and being kinda inspired by some of the companies i have read about here i decided to start recording my new venture in air hauler. I hope it will be as good of a read as the rest here. After just completing my flight school i was reading the papers and stumbled apon a aging small cargo company in the Cayman islands for sale, i had some cash a pilots licence and some ambition so i said "what can go wrong" and quickly made a nice lowball offer that was quickly accepted. so here i am in my new base in Grand Cayman with a nice abused Cessna 172 and a few contracts that needed done. I knew rep would be my main concern as all the cash in the world doesnt do much if no one knows you so i set out to deliver some cargo and get my name out. After a few jobs i noticed a used Mooney Bravo up for sale on the used boards for a nice 155K and couldnt pass that up a quick look at the bank sheets told my if i sold the 172 i could get the new Bravo with just a tiny 15K IOU to the company. What a difference 80 KIAS can make im now on track to make even more cash and rep, a solid start i think. link in sig is to my current company profile Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Congratulations on the new company and welcome to AH and Mutley's Hangar. I expect you'll thoroughly enjoy both. Over-water flights in a piston single, eh? Brave man. John Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 ya most of my flights are in the 400-700 NM range and that is just inside the Moonys max range, doesnt leave much room to take on less fuel and more cargo Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Welcome to Mutley's Hangar Lawrence, We will all be following your progress with interest. Cheers, Joe Link to post Share on other sites
Kasper 14 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Welcome Lawrence and have fun with your company. Nice to see another company setting up shop down South. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,283 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Nice place for an office, buy plenty of sunscreen Good luck with the new company and through hard work make lots of AH dollars Welcome to the site, hope you enjoy yourself here. There is plenty of content and great folks. Brett Sohigh Owner/Operator SoHigh Air Services Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Update : after some effort and almost 18 hrs of flight time i have paid the company back for my Moony and even had enough to open a new office in south cent. Florida. The new office is giving some better range contracts and are all over land. I have my eye on a few options to upgrade the moony but i have not decided on what it will be yet. once i get the new plane ill post pics but as i cant paint to save my life im afraid my planes wont have the cool custom paint jobs. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,283 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 The Grand Caravan is always a nice "next" step up. Not to expensive and carries mucho weight. Get your rep up and you can take out a loan. It is not necessary to jump right in and add cool repaints. Enjoy AH for now and we would still like to see any screenshots of your hauling travels, even with default textures. Learning how to repaint does take some time but is also fun to do. It's can be easy to just add a name to the side of your aircraft too with a little patience. See this link for how to's on repainting. Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 thank you for the info i might look into adding my name to my planes as that doesnt seem to hard Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,283 Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Pardon me for being too forward, I was just fooling around tonight and made a temporary AH logo based on your company name in case you didn't have one yet. Did you know you can add one to your finance page to replace the AH logo? It's just what came to my mind when I saw your unique name and you don't have to use it of course, I just like playing around with the Paint program. BTW your the first person I know that read that how to on repainting and said "That doesn't look to hard" Good luck with it and remember that there are many talented painters here that would be happy to help you with any questions you may have on the subject. Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 wow that looks awesome thank you for making it and i will absolutely use it. i have some experience with photoshop and adding a bit of text shouldnt be to bad compared to a full repaint but i wont know untill i get into it Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 Update : it has been a busy day and its not even over yet, we fianlly have enough rep to lease a better plane and i found a nice Beech Baron available on short term lease. i had to tap into the 100K line of credit to pay the deposit but i feel it will be worth it as the Baron can hold about 150 LBS more cargo and still keep 180 KIAS. with many of my contracts still keeping a 300-700 NM range the lager fuel load of the Baron is a massive help as well. I have plans to lease a Grand Caravan as alot of my cargo is in the 1100 LB range but was a bit outside my price range for the moment. as promised some pics of the new Baron when it got to my Florida base: and i couldnt help but pay a few thousand more for the glass cockpit, the modern avionics are a massive help Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 New Day and another update : we hit 55% rep today and i found a well qualified pilot looking for work, this meant i needed a plane for him to fly. after looking at the for sale papers i knew i couldnt afford to buy a plane so i decided to lease a new DHC2 turbo beaver. this is a leap forward as it has about double the cargo that the beaver does but not quite the range and speed. i had to go in the red again but i know i will get it paid off in good time. Pic of the new addition : Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,283 Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 Nice start to the fleet, looking good If your not in the red, your probably dead or at least not living life to it's fullest. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 ...it has about double the cargo that the beaver does but not quite the range and speed. The turbo-Beaver is slower than the piston version? If so, you may be flying it too low - to go fast, go high, where TAS helps you (but mind the winds). John Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 oops that was a wording mistake i meant it was slower than the Baron 58. i have noticed some odd things though, i get better range at high alt but better speed at lower alt. Now this is by AS numbers both IAS and TAS ( the baron shows both ) but as range is more of a issue than speed its fine with me. Short Update : i have reached 60% rep and leased a king air 350. its a nice plane but seems a bit under powered on take off and due to the fact that i operate out of and into smaller runways ( 4-7K feet ) im thinking of getting something different. So what do you guys recommend for a good plane in the 3000 lbs hauling range ? If i dont have it i can download it ( if its free ) Link to post Share on other sites
rosariomanzo 545 Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 Great updates, congrats! Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 3, 2013 Report Share Posted January 3, 2013 It is normal to get better range at higher altitude in most aircraft. TAS gives you a 2% (approximately) bonus for each 1,000 feet of altitude, at any given indicated airspeed. The fly in the ointment is wind, which is usually much higher at higher altitudes and may by going your way or may not be. John Link to post Share on other sites
pixelninja 0 Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Looks like a good start! You'll find once you have a fleet and some pilots working for you, you'll start to take off. Link to post Share on other sites
Bobby 0 Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Hi Lawrence....it's good to see another island hopper. I've been to the area you have set up at and I like the idea of a "mainland" base to be able to expand your routes. Having worked the ramp at RSW gives me a picture in my head of your routes. I set up in Hawaii which is another place I have worked but I don't have a mainland close enough. I'd like to some day import China Clippers and fly west to remote islands and atolls. I enjoy reading your adventures and look forward to more. Bobby Link to post Share on other sites
lryansjr 0 Posted January 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 Major Update : Well alot has been going on around here so much that i hardly know where to start. The King Air didnt work so well for me and i was able to find a Shorts 330 Sherpa from a near by cargo company with financial issues, they agreed to lease the Sherpa to me at a reasonable rate with no term limits so i quickly sign the papers and began running cargo in the Sherpa. With the larger cargo load i was able to quickly make some cash and set my sights on my next expansion. I got a call from a friend in New York today and he told me that cargo had ground to a halt in the area due to so many pilots that refused to fly with even a inch of snow on the ground so i contacted my local bank and applied for a 6.5 million dollar loan. After negotiating terms we signed the papers, with cash in the account i decided a new CRJ700 would serve a major expansion well. with a new base in Pittsburgh new york and my new CRJ700 waiting at the airport i loaded its first haul and got underway, this is when the trouble began. First on take off i didnt pay attention to my airspeed and broke my flaps, i flew 800NM with 8 deg. of flaps then due to the flaps being broken i had to make a less than great landing only 3% damage though. after paying the 380K repair bill i loaded up my second load and delivered it with 2 perfect landings. needless to say jets take some getting used to and i predict a few more repair bills before i get it perfect but its nice to have a challenge. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,283 Posted January 9, 2013 Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 That sounds about right when flying the big'ins. Your not the first owner that has gotten repair bill shock. Good luck with the expansion and happy hauling. Link to post Share on other sites
remingtonbox 18 Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 ya most of my flights are in the 400-700 NM range and that is just inside the Moonys max range, doesnt leave much room to take on less fuel and more cargo You sir... are insane, haven't you heard that every noise a single engine makes over the water sounds 200% worse than it actually is Link to post Share on other sites
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