I guess I'm easy to please because I've flown and enjoyed hugely a number of the classic trainers - both nosewheel and conventional gear - mentioned in this thread. I learned to fly in a C-A150 and later owned a C150F, in which I toured a fair bit of Australia. They are great little aircraft and I never at any stage feel short-changed when flying a 150 or 152.
While I enjoy flying just about anything, I don't think we need be too crestfallen about what's on contemporary offer these days. For example, for a number of reasons (not least curiosity) I bought a used P2002JF a few years ago. It's an all-metal EASA-certified VLA (600+ kg MTOW), has a 100 hp 912s, gets along at 100 kt on 16 lph of mogas, has about 5.5 hrs endurance, a proper bubble canopy and stick, crisp and conventional handling and good shoulder room.
Is it perfect? Of course not. For a start, it's a VLA and if you're two very big guys you might find yourself limited to 3-ish hours cross-country. And it's not approved for spins. And I buy a lot of SPF50 sunscreen. Furthermore, nothing in the VLA/LSA catergory is going to have much margin for agricultural construction. However, I observe my favourite flying school now approaching 3000 hrs on a couple of P2002s, operated alongside a more traditional fleet, with few problems and many good words from instructors and students.
An enthusiastic teenager asked me a few weeks ago for a recommendation of instructors, flying schools, etc. I made the obvious point about quality of instruction being the biggest criterion but gave him my honest view that he had a range of good aircraft from which to choose, of which the P2002 (and in fact a high wing and tail-dragger stablemate) was but one.
So, keen young folks are still being captivated by little aircraft, and smart flying schools are adjusting their operations to embrace the VLA/LSA sector, often operated alongside the GA stream by the same instructors. In some ways, we might even be returning to our Cub etc roots, except that everyone wants to load up with avionics these days - but that's another story.
Last edited by tecman; 22nd May 2015 at 07:01.