I have flown the eagle since they were first delivered to the school off the production line, however I am not a high time pilot.
I have to say that all aircraft, not only the Eagle, have their +v and -ve features, and as such you choose your aircraft according to your flight/mission.
We use the Eagle as a trainer to GFPT std, however if the student struggles to keep up with the aircraft and has problems thinking ahead then we suggest that they maybe change to training in a Cessna.
Its all very nice training in a modern, fast aircraft but its pretty pointless if your struggling to learn.
The student will then fly the C172 for nav flights to complete their PPL
Ok, so the Eagle isn't best suited for Nav's, but then I don't know any schools around that promote it as such, as mentioned earlier you don't see C152's chsrging off over the scarp on a 3hr nav
As far as landing it goes I have never had a problem, and can usually grease her on ok, but she can float if you come in a little hot but don't they all??
We have found them to be expensive on the maint. side of things, they're about 5 yrs old now, and you can go through tyres with students bald patching them by landing with brakes on.
They are a very hot aircraft to fly in summer and you'll burn a bald noggin without a hat!
Overall they are great fun to fly, with good performance and good alround visability. Although they were first marketed as a Trainer/Tourer type aircraft the latter was dropped for reasons noted by others such as range and space in cockpit. So they are primarily a primary trainer like the 152.
I understand that they were at one point looking at making a 4 place Eagle but I don't think it ever got off the drawing board.
Cheers,
P.O.M
