Make Mine A Meridian

The dream of touring in a turboprop of one’s own is not so far-fetched as it may seem

- Colin Goodwin

Usually ‘Old Timers’ wins it, but sometimes I delay the pleasure of reading Peter R March’s words and skip to my second-favourite section of Pilot: the dreaming department− specifically, the regular advertisements placed by Plane Trading and AT Aviation. My whole life has been spent poring over classified advertisements in car magazines, dreaming and scheming and carrying out complicated man-math calculations.

Nowadays, since being bitten by the aviation bug, the time spent dreaming of lottery wins has doubled. Poring over aircraft for sale ads is even more riveting than car classifieds because there’s a lot more to buying an aeroplane than a car. For starters, my driving licence allows me to drive anything from a Smart ForTwo to a McLaren 720S−anywhere, anytime, and in any weather. The cost of servicing a Ferrari, of course, is more than it is for a Ford but the difference is not as ridiculous as it is between a Piper Cub and a Beech King Air. But it’s more complicated and fascinating than that. The pros and cons of one particular aircraft versus another are more subtle, and require more research and use of a calculator.