laa permit aircraft for tug use
Many thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to answer my questions and read my ramblings. Please assume I know nothing whatsoever about aircraft.
My son wants to be a commercial pilot and has done for years. He has put lots of effort into his dream gaining 5 gcse, 2 a level’s and is now in his final year of a science degree. He has also done about 30hrs in a motor glider with an instructor.
His instructor has now told me that he needs to progress onto a different aircraft as he has advanced beyond the motor glider, he suggested a euro fox, he also advised me that I should be looking for an LAA permit aircraft with a mogas engine as they are relatively cheap to run and maintain. The instructor’s airfield has planning restrictions limiting it to glider, motor glider and glider tug use, but we could store the aircraft in his hangar and use his runway if the aircraft complied with the restriction by having a tow hook.
I don’t have euro fox money and have struggled to raise £35k. this I hoped would get my son to ppl and then hour building towards cpl. My plan was to buy an aircraft, my son use it as long as he needed and then sell it to pay for the next step in his training.
I did think that a zenair ch 601 would be perfect until I found out the wings have failed in use on 7 occasions killing 11 people.
Are second hand LAA permit aircraft safe?
What do they cost to maintain?
I really don’t know what to do for the best and don’t have a clue what I should be looking for or doing in order to help the best I can. Any input would be greatly appreciated.