Welcome to these diverse forums. If you have a wider interest than just one,
the go is to first up have a look through NEW POSTS before homing in your
particular interest.
The C172? Before anyone gives the downside, remember that it was the aircraft of choice for Len Morgan when he hung up his Braniff spurs.
He continued to write his VECTORS column and write monographs about the planes he knew well from having flown them in war and peace (Mustang and DC-3 for instance.) The 172 suited him perfectly. He could take some family , throw in some baggage and set off to visit mates all over the country, including Alaska.
It is wrong to compare what a 172 can do as opposed to an RV.
In the last week I flew my C172A from south of Sydney to SE Queensland. 500 feet up the beaches. Window open all the way. Gawking at shark pods. Fantasising about the hippies on the remote nude beaches. (Swore I saw a beach fisherman with a scope on his rod) This is harder if you are closed in in a low wing RV.
It just the cost of fuel that is a real bugger for a pensioner.
Y'day had a fly of a Sling 2 demo machine. Some bit of kit I can tell you.
Handles like a dream. Cruise 110 kts on a 100hp Rotax and nine hours endurance. One reservation is that for those longer in the tooth it can be hard to get in and harder to get out.
Having said that, an 82 year old former Qantas flight engineer has just bought one and because of good prosthetic knees is not disadvantaged.
If you pay 35G - 40 G oz dollars) for a good clean older model 172 you must be way ahead in available cash reserves for many a year cf 100G for an RV.
Last edited by Fantome; 22nd Jan 2014 at 21:47.