Which Cessna for beginning?

[maximus610]

Hi all,

I'm going to do my PPL in US.

Please, give me an advice, wich aircraft I might to choose:

Cessna 172SP G1000 , 172SP NAVII or a simple 172N (TKI)?

Thanks

max

[BartV]

Choose the plane you will later fly in

[eltonioni]

I'd go for somple of old fashioned steam driven dials as 99.9% of aircraft out there have them. If you are lucky enough to end up flying glass then a short conversion is a snap, but if you only know glass you'll feel a bit silly when a pal says... 'do you want to fly my aeroplane'.

Also, the exams and all PPL books and courses are based on round dials, not computer screens.

[Captain Smithy]

Whenever this question is asked there always seems to be about 1000 different answers! :}

What are the costs per hour in each of the aircraft?

[tuscan]

Smithy is right, there will be 1000 answers to this but cost aside, what do you wish to do with your PPL once you have it? If you are going down the career route you will probably end up with glass anyway but what about when you go for complex and twin, will that training also be with glass? Probably not..
If you wish to remain PPL, unless youre buying something with glass, dials are what most clubs rent out and at a cheaper rate.

[A and C]

Forget all this glass cockpit stuff, get the most basic C152 and learn to fly the aircraft. Navigate using a map and compass.

Only when you are up to flying with the basic equipment should you move on to the better equiped aircraft.

The thing to keep in mind is that the day the the electrics fail you wil very quickly have to fly the aircraft on "basic" equipment an without having a good level of training in this you will have nothing to fall back on.

I each time I go to work I fly with graduates from the magenta line kindergarden and when the FMC fails panic sets in because they have not the experience to switch back to conventional navigation quickly........... you are lucky enough to be asking the question before you start the training and are able to nip this problem in the bud.

[Mikehotel152]

I'm with A and C on this one. Learn the basics on a basic aircraft! :ok:

[BackPacker]

My guess is that for basic training, you're going to learn on a 172. Period. The school will have a pool of these available, various years, various models, various cockpits but the instructors are current on all of them and your job is to manipulate the controls and look out the window. So it really doesn't matter what instruments are in the cockpit as long as you are able to interpret the airspeed and altitude indicator, and perhaps a DI or compass.

The only real difference that you may notice is the different starting procedure between an injected and a non-injected engine, and carb heat of course.

Only when you get a bit further in your training will it be possible to manipulate the schedule so that you train on your aircraft of choice. And even then it won't be particularly important except maybe when doing the radio nav bit and the 180 turn on instruments.

The only thing you might need to watch out for is the potential price difference. If you're going to practice stalls or circuits, why pay extra for a glass cockpit?

Oh, and here's another consideration. On your skills test you are supposed to be familiar with the aircraft you're flying, including all the instrumentation/avionics. Of course the examiner will understand if you don't know every option on every menu in a G1000 but you have to be able to show its most important functions. Which can be a lot. In a very basic aircraft with steam-driven dials, a simple nav/com and no GPS, this part is much, much easier.

[avonflyer]

it will be cheaper, it is fun (described to me as the aviation equivalent to a motor bike) and you can also enjoy the power on stall, which will stand you in good stead for the rest of your flying life... thereafter transferring to any of the others should not be a big issue.

[Mickey Kaye]

Fly the cheapest and/or something different from what you would be flying in the UK.

Flying the same type of aircraft all the time is a little boring. I flew a aeronca champ out in florida some 15 years ago. It was only a couple of dollars more than a 152 and was great fun to fly. It's also handy if I ever want/need to fly a taildragger again as I shouldn't need so much training.

The same applies if the flying school gets a new aircraft or you move house and have to change fying school which uses a different aircraft type. As you will need less air time on your check out ride.

I would also suggest getting checked out in a couple of 4 seaters as well. As if you want to take a couple of your friends up it will make the check out quicker cheaper and probably safer.

In the past the more different types I flew the more the quikcer i found it to convert to another type. It also resulted in me making more of an effort in reading the flight manuals.

[eltonioni]

I've never needed more than about an hour to be checked out on a different aeroplane (so far) so I wouldn't worry about it. That's not to say that my advice is correct of course ;)

If you can fly blind on compass and altimeter then you should be fine when everything else breaks down on a glass hotship. Alternator and battery powered flat screens arent a substiture for training.

[Them thar hills]

Keep it simple !
I'll second doing it in a basically equipped aircraft.
All the other fancy stuff is along for the ride and is nothing more than fiddling value.
This may not appear fashionable advice in these days of glass panels, but sound basic knowledge is priceless.
tth

[XL319]

I find it more of a thrill of flying when you fly the "basic way"....much more fun trying to navigate VFR or IFR (not too much) rather than relying on GPS. I only use my GPS as a secondary source of nav

[Applecore]

I dont like the fact that my kids use calculators for basic maths at school!

You need to understand how things are calculated before you can let a computer do it for you.

That way when the calculator breaks you can still add 2+2.

Its the same with a glass cockpit.

[172driver]

Guess it really depends what you wnat to do with our license later - if you are after an airline career, then perhaps the glass cockpit (which, after all, is what you'll be flying commercially) may be better. Otherwise, I'd go for the steam gauges, not least as the rental fleet still largely has these.

As for the a/c. Depends a bit on your size. I personally hate the 152 but love the 172 and 182. The 152 quite simply doesn't feel right for my height (as does the Katana, btw), I have to squeeze myself into it and simply don't like the thing. I'm sure there'll be someone along in a second to say how great it is for 7ft basketball players, but that's my 2 c ;)

All considered, I'd go for a steam-gauge 172.

[bjornhall]

Fly all of them!

Already, as will increasingly be the case for at least the next 3 decades or so, PPL pilots switch back and forth between glass and steam gauges every other flight... Seems odd and problematic now, but will become more and more routine... Might as well get used to it right away!

IMHO...

[Pilotette]

my advice from my experience is to start with the most basic and once you've got your head around the steam dials then jump into the glass..but do a few x-country flights in the basic first because its way too easy to just become complacent and use the Ground Speed info given instead of working it out, use the Direct To feature and use the Engine Lean Assist instead of learning, hearing and feeling the a/c's response to mixture changes.

i started in a piper warrior and moved onto the C172SP with G1000 after about 3 x-country flights.

the C172SPs are very nice though i must admit..especially for night flying!
:ok:

[B2N2]

Second that..
No reason not to start in a 'conventional' 172 and once you have most of your requirements met switch to the G1000 to finish up and take your checkride in.
You will have learned all 'old school' skills prior to converting to glass.
Just make sure you have a good instructor.
Pretty usefull really.