buying a plane to learn flying?

[Edward Lam]

I am taking flying lessons on a Cessna 150 (rental)and having been seriously looking at purchasing a plane( cessna 150,172 & Piper-140) to continue my training. I am rather confused over -1)whether I should own my plane or not? 2) If owning a plane what criteria should one use to decide on one the 3 types mentioned. ( a million $ question!) Would like advises and your experience . thanks in advance

[djschaut]

Ed,
I bought a plane to learn to fly back in '90. It was a Piper Cherokee Six. What I liked about having my own plane was that I didn't have to schedule a rental, I could get my instructor to sign off on long cross-country trips, and I was the only one flying the plane. I could leave junk in it and not have to worry about making it look perfect every flight. It seemed to me like the cost was about the same, but the convenience was great. I could just go out to the airport, jump in, and hit the skies--once I had soloed. I had my instructor give me written permission to fly long cross-countries between Colorado and Arizona whenever I wanted. Choosing a plane is up to you, and we discuss different planes here. Some like high-wing Cessnas. Others like low wing planes, like the Cherokee. That's a matter of personal preference. If you want cheap, the 150 series is good, and so is the 140 series Cherokee. You'll find a posting that shows where you can read all about used Cherokees in The Hangar. You have to consider the possibility of a more complex aircraft, if you have such needs. Why buy a trainer today if you're going to sell it in less than a year and buy a real cruiser? Better to just wait and go through the process then and get that dream Bonanza or Cirrus SR20 that you plan to keep for several years. Even if you traded your trainer in, the airplane purchasing process is risky, time and energy consuming, and there's always the broker's commission. Anyway, those three planes all have good reputations if you get one that has been well-maintained and if you get that all-important pre-purchase inspection. But, your particular circumstances have to play a part, too.

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DJSchaut

[1739T]

Ed,

The effort and knowledge that goes into buying the right plan is substantial. I bought a PA-28-140 a couple years ago. I bought it as an IFR trainer which it performs well as. Unfortunately for the same reasons it is a good trainer it is not a great personal/business use plane. Speed and useful load for training are often not what you want for "after" use. If you buy a plane for training consider this or resign yourself to the fact that you will be selling and moving up sometime soon. (as I am doing now).

One last comment, assuming your speding $50 plus and hour for a plane you'll need to fly about 200 hours a year to even come close to financially justifying owning an airplane. Or you can do as I and some of my other airplane owning friends do. We believe you can not put a price on being able to say "that's my plane"

[sideslip]

Other things to think about before buying. Of every 3 people that start as student pilots, only 1 will get their certificate. Of four people at my local field that bought planes while students, only one has gotten their ticket. Two come out and work on their planes, but are not making any progress towards their license, the third is too new to make any judgement yet. The forth one that did buy, bought late in his training and did not fly the plane until after his checkride. It did not have all the instructments necessary for the checkride. He had not planned to buy, but a really good deal came along and he jumped on it.

Another thing to consider is what type of flying do you like. You probably won't know until you have flown for awhile. Different planes have different functions. One advanage of renting is that you can try alot of different types of planes. This is a real advanage to a new pilot. When I was training in a 152, I thought that was THE PLANE. After my checkride, I started flying alot of other planes. Now if I want to just do local area flying I'll rent a J-3 or a Super Cub. For short trips, 50-120 miles, I'll rent a 172. For longer trips, I'll go with something faster. For doing unusual attitudes I have access to a Decathelon. I hardly ever fly the 152 anymore. However, I'm very lucky in that my local airport has alot of choices when it comes to flying.

As an earlier post said, unless you fly about 200 hours a year, you will not be saving money.

In my opinion, the best thing a student pilot can do is concentrate on getting their ticket, pass your checkride, do some flying, then decide whether you want to buy and what type/model plane fits your needs.

Good luck and enjoy the flying.

Mike.

[Edward Lam]

Thanks to all who responded