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Only 60 hours...

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FuLcRuM

New Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
1
Hello, my name is Tom and I live in western PA. I have my PPL and have around 60 hours, and am currently working on my instrument. I'm 18 and heading out to college in Chicago for a tough major.

Depending on how much time in college I have(and how well I do, since my major is in engineering and I'm in AFROTC), I may consider buying a plane, or just joining a local club.

I've been working, selling stuff and saving my money since I was 16, and I have 9,000 in the bank. I was thinking about purchasing an airplane(finished) but am not sure if I would have the experience necessary to maintain and fly some of the planes I have been looking at.

I flew the Piper 140, Piper Warrior, and C-152. All of the have been tricycle gear aircraft and I have no tail dragger experience. I plan on going to OSHKOSH and seeing some of the stuff they have there.

Originally I was considering a Piper 140 priced at around 20000. But I have researched some of the homebuilt aircraft, and have found that their performance is always MUCH better cheaper compared to their manufactured counterparts.

But than I saw a plane that really caught my eye, the Midget Mustang. I saw one for only 9850.00 in a magazine with 900 hours still left on the engine. I also love the look, speed, and aerobatic potential ofthe plane. Unfortunately, it is a taildragger and I have 0 hours in a conventional aircraft. It somewhat intimidates me... but I definatly would like a small Metal, somewhat aerobatic single or double seat tricycle gear aircraft.

Personally, I am really getting sick of all the BS I have to go through just to fly for an hour. With my school, you can only fly for limited time, pay HIGH prices, no passengers, no touch and goes, no aerobatics of any kind, you have to deal with a real cockey instructor/staff, and you have to be signed off to fly by yourself everytime. Considering I pay around 150 dollars per lesson on my IFR rating, I am really considering buying a plane.(Oh yeah, and most importantly, no flying for FUN)

I only have 60 hours as of now(probably will have 90-100 by time I would like to buy), should I just keep flying(and paying out the $#$# for instruction time) or buy a cheap plane and fly it to death?

If I do get a expiremental plane, what would you suggest?
 
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