Although it's a very long time ago, I did most of my training in AAs of various descriptions. At the time it had a reputation in the bar for having quirky handling characteristics and being unforgiving of sloppy piloting. Of course, I had nothing to compare it to but I still managed to get a licence. During my training maintaining the correct airspeed was drummed into me, but I'm sure every u/t gets that. Having flown other types since I now realise that it really matters for the AAs, particularly when landing. Get the speed over the threshold right and the flare and landing are quite easy to achieve, a few knots extra and it will bounce and float (and fload), and even if then handled correctly, the speed bleeds off very slowly. As mentioned by others, the nosewheel will fail if you try to land on it or drive it into the ground in some other way. A common accident scenario was to drop the nose when floating along the runway in an attempt to get on the ground - not a good idea, saw it happen once (although, to be fair, the rest of the aircraft is very robust and the only thing injured was pride). In other respects I didn't find it very different to PA28s etc., but I don't think I've ever flown anything with a better view.