Excellent thread! Thank you all!
Hello,
Long ago I flew but only had about 150 hours of flying time and only 3 hours of aerobatic time, and gave it up when I went to grad school, under the premise that I would buy a plane and keep flying. Well, life and women took me another direction, so the fact is now I need to go through all my training again from the start. I still want to own my own plane though instead of renting, and am finally planning on doing so this year. I want a plane to train in and tour in with up to 4 friends and for business trips. But, I also want to do aerobatics when I want to go up alone and have some fun. I originally flew out of MN airports in an A150 and 152s. I see there is a lot of negative comments about the A150/152s here (which is also only a 2 seat plane), from people who know FAR more than me about this subject. I want a fairly inexpensive plane for my first trainer/plane, maybe in the $20,000.00 to $40,000.00 range ideally, if possible. It seems to me that there are potential issues with such models as the Fuji (which sounds great actually) and the Saad Safir 91D, (maybe the Yak also, but no one mentioned that) with acquisition of parts... So, that leaves me with the Yak-18 (maybe), Robin R-2160/2112, Beech B-19/19A Sports II Musketeer/C23 Sundowner, etc... However, are there also issues with bringing aircraft in from foreign countries, as the Saabs are all out of the country and so are the Robins and most Fujis? Thanks for any comments. Realistically, after having become a competent and safe pilot, in the future, I will own a Pitts S-2B as my aerobatic plane, and what ever plane is recommended here most strongly as my touring plane. Thank you, sincerely, Greg.