About Choose My Plane

Buying an aircraft is a research project most people do in twenty-minute slices, late at night, across a dozen open tabs. Specs are scattered across pilot operating handbooks, owner forums, magazine flight reports, and Wikipedia tables that often don't agree. Choose My Plane is that research, already done. Hand-curated, source-traced, and standardized so the comparison is honest.

Why I built it

I started Choose My Plane because I'm doing the same research most of you are. I'm working toward my first airplane, and the path begins with a long stretch of comparing aircraft. That's the part the existing tools don't handle well. I wanted something that worked the way I wanted to think: visually, the way Autotrader handles cars, not by engine class first; honest about the trade-offs; and patient enough to be useful in twenty-minute slices.

How it works

Every aircraft entry in the catalog is curated by hand. Specs trace back to pilot operating handbooks, FAA Type Certificate Data Sheets, AOPA flight reports, Plane & Pilot and Twin & Turbine coverage, and PlanePhD operating cost data. Figures that are research-grounded rather than POH-verified are flagged as estimated. Where sources disagree, the conflict is noted.

The catalog is standardized, too. Cruise speed in knots true at a stated altitude. Operating cost as total direct operating cost per hour at a stated fuel price, not the variable-only number some marketing brochures quote. Range with reserves declared. The point is that comparing a Cheyenne III to a King Air 350 should produce a useful answer, not a debate about whose figures to trust.

Who runs it

Choose My Plane is a Mr. Jackdaw Company tool, sister to the apps at mrjackdaw.com. The site is free; an account is free. Future revenue will come from partnerships with insurance, finance, and type clubs: businesses that benefit when buyers make better decisions, not from buyers paying for access.

Until then, the catalog stays open.

Get in touch if you've spotted a data error, want to share owner-side cost or maintenance data on a type the catalog doesn't cover well, or are working in a part of the industry that thinks better-informed buyers would help your business.