Well, thanks to the input and weighing the pros and cons of the different airframes for the MAC fleet expansion - I’ve settled on the DHC-6 Twin Otter. If I had gone with the prettier Do228, I’d have to dial up my sliders in Air Hauler to extend the runway lengths of the airports we could go to, so I do feel that the Twotter is a good choice.
Redding Jet Center over near Mount Shasta happens to have a nice, though slightly worn, Twin Otter for sale. She’s an ex Air Inuit aircraft with tundra tires and a cargo configuration. She’ll need a paint job (I have no idea how I’m going to do that), but I’m putting the deposit down today…!
The Twin Otter will be a bit more complex than the Cessna 185F, so it might take me a bit of time to get up to speed. Avionics are the custom coded Aerosoft Garmin 530, which I might upgrade in time to the GTN 750 if I spot a deal on one.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll. Yes, the Do228 is faster, has better avionics, and might edge out the Twin Otter on fuel burn, but like I said when I started looking - it isn’t so much about distance and speed as low speed handling and runway lengths at a lot of these back country fields in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
As for the 185F - I haven’t quite decided what to do with that. Still trying to figure that out.