Wow! This morning I could not imagine that I would have received so many answers in such a short time... thanks guys!
As former military pilot I have logged more than 150 hours on the SF 260: it's a wonderful machine, but very much expensive, both to purchase and to run as a private person: I believe Aermacchi is keeping the prices artificially high to keep up just with the military clients.
My plane will be based in Belgium so I started to look at what is around here.
I heard about the accidents with the civilian Slingsby's and indeed my interest would go to the M260, but I got infos from a colleague who is flying it in Belgium that he is almost killed by the maintenance costs....
I am going to have a look at the Bulldog and the Vans: maybe it's the right time for me to pay a vist to UK...
Yaks are indeed lovely, but running costs are amazing.... if they're grounded for engine issues, for example, sometimes it's cheaper to buy a new one...