A C42 is a good all rounder, great climb performance with either 80 or 100 HP, the seat is usually fixed but i've taken some pretty big people (both tall and wide) up and they never usually have a problem.
It's about 260kg empty, add 100kg plus a 75kg instructor leaves 15kg for fuel to the 450kg limit.
That's just over 20 litres, which at 12 litres/hour fuel burn gives you 1 hour 45 mins.
The fact is that the 450kg limit is a legal limitation set in the UK rather than a performance limitation that you would find on your PA28 or C172. In other countries the max weight can vary, and somehow if you fit a ballistic parachute you can fly it at 470kg.
Last edited by RTN11; 8th June 2011 at 19:21.