Now a qualified pilot what next?

[abgd]

For once I don't think I agree with Genghis.

You learn to fly a plane by flying. You learn to own a plane by owning. I rented for several years before recently buying this small single-seater.





My cautionary tale is that I didn't go to see it before buying*. I paid an inspector to look over it and he missed lots of little details such as the undercarriage being bent:



Unsurprisingly the wheel was cracked:

And whilst he did pick up on some of the safety wiring that needing re-doing, he missed this:



and this (thought to be fencing wire):



And of course the rest of the aircraft was maintained to the same standard.

The inspector assured me that the engine was in good condition, but I didn't question him too closely about how he'd actually ascertained this. It turns out the aircraft was in long-term storage behind lots of farm equipment and it couldn't sensibly have been run during the inspection. Of course, all the high-tension wiring has needed replacing as did the magneto caps and the entire exhaust system, which had lots of holes in it. Unfortunately we had the legs off before realising the severity of the problem, so the engine still hasn't been run.

Added to which, half the documents are missing and the logbooks are incomplete e.g. different propeller fitted from that in the logbook.

I'm learning a lot about aircraft ownership that I'd never have learned just by flying. It's not unsatisfying but it is frustrating. I'll have been out of flying for 8 months by the time it's all projected to be fixed - and this is almost exactly what you don't need at this point in time.

That said, if you get it right the operating costs of such an aircraft should enable you to get a lot of hours in quite cheaply - which is exactly what you do need. I wish I'd bought an aircraft sooner, and I wish I'd talked to more people (it turns out the condition of this aircraft was widely known within Turbulent circles). I wouldn't personally go for a microlight, because the simplest way to keep your license valid is to keep flying hours on Group A aircraft.

* I intended to, but initially doubted I'd be able to make an appointment in a time frame that would be fair to the seller. I did manage to get a day off, then heard that the inspection had been done earlier than agreed. As the inspector's report was effusive I went ahead and bit the bullet.