Well Gentleman,
In my opinion (150h teaching, 80h in C172 the rest in Pa38) the Tommy make a fantastic trainer in some points:
- for future CPL... specially if you have Tommy -> Arrow -> Seminole (first question when i entered the Seminole: "who put two engines on a that poor ol' Tommy??") Step up is great, controls feel of a way heavier plane (i'm coming from Bonanza school....)
- for people at aeroclub level who think of stepping up on a low winged, high performance (VP and or RG)
As for training a bit elder people (no offense meant) who wish to fly a Cessna for fun and that's it, I believe training in a C172, or C152+stepup C172 would be a better option.
But it's true that if you know the Tommy you can fly almost anything. By the matter of fact I learned CPL IR all exclusively on a Bonanza and going back to the Tommy after that wasn't as easy as i bragged about.
For spins...well flat spins area deadly, and we have too much stuff (emergency equip) in the back (CG!!) to risk it. On top, ours has 3500h and is year '78, which isn't the youngest, if you see my point... We have a no-spin policy. Just teachin' the spin entry recovery and the stud's get it darn well
Enough in my (our) opinion.
Wouldn't mind getting a nice fleet of 3-4 Tommies, 2 Arrows and a Seminole, overhauled, new panel (or new Arrow+Seminole) for a nice CPLIRMEPfATPLmaybeMCC outfit
Enjoy your Tommy
, and if you don't like it, stick to you Whatever
...
Happy landings!
Mrya