Cessna Aerobat what dya think?
 

Fancy buying a Cessna Aerobat, read up on them and they seem easy to maintain and a good first Aircraft to start Aerobatics in.
Searching on the forums there seems to be a lot of people not too impressed with them .
If not an Aerobat for £20k ish what else is there to choose from?
I have plenty of hours in C150/C152's and they are simple and safe , an Aerobat seems a little more exciting though. Are there any pitfalls to keep an eye out for?
Any thoughts?
EL :confused:

If it floats yer boat..... but if you've £20K to spend, try some aeroplanes with decent handling before buying the Cessna.

It is aerobatic, but the C150 was never designed as an aerobatic machine so the Aerobat isn't really in its element when being aerobatted.

But if you can aerobat one well, you'll be a star in something nice to handle. :)

Done aeros in a 152 aerobat came 3rd in competition its a club aircraft we have 2. ONly trouble doing aeros in them is they loose quite a bit of height so u cant do too long a routine oh and they dont do inverted or knife edge :}.
Good fun to learn the basics.
David

Once you stop mopping oil off the inside of the donk cowling, you know you are getting close to adequate. That said, a shed is still a shed.

Yuk! Look for a real aeroplane.

Get a used http://www.extraaircraft.com/ :-)

If you are serious about aerobatics, get your flying up to standard and get a Pits. It will not cost you 20k and it is a proper aerobatic machine. If you want two seats and something with good handling and mild aerobatics have a look for a Pup, but you would be better off getting a share in something more capable like a Chippy or a Robin 2160.

Rod1

Aerobat is a great little aerobatic trainer. Problem with buying one is that the addiction to aerobatics probably means that you'll get sick of it before long. There are definitely better aerobatic airplanes around but if you want a two seater then hard to beat the price.
Oil not just on the inside of the cowl - quality of rolls can be measured by which external parts have oil on them.

?
I really cannot agree with this one.:mad:

Oil generally ends up on undercarridge legs and front elevator so getting out u get it on ur trousers opushing it back u get it on ur hands
david

David is the Y key not working on your keyboard????? :hmm:

Have seen the CFI of the Merlin Flying club at Hucknall perform a stunning aerobatic sequence more than once in an Aerobat. I would imagine that if you could achieve anything close to his standard in a 'bat, you would be very competant, and very satisfied with yourself.

<Have seen the CFI of the Merlin Flying club at Hucknall perform a stunning aerobatic sequence more than once in an Aerobat. I would imagine that if you could achieve anything close to his standard in a 'bat, you would be very competant, and very satisfied with yourself.>

I agree. My old CFI could throw one around most impressively..well, to me anyway....

I think it's like the F1 guys driving Clarkson's Liana (Sp?).. hardly performance cars but in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing......

£20K sounds about right for a nice example and you'll sell it in a couple of years for £20K as well.

Y is working perfectly I am just a lousy typer and cant be bothered to type you. My CFI who I learnt with also can chuck one about very well, im getting there.
David

If you're serious about aerobatics, don't even think of buying an Aerobat. Rent one instead, and after a few hours realise why you're so happy about saving your £20K...which you can then go and invest in a Pitts.

The general demenour on the competition judging line when confronted with an Aerobat seems to be an initial feeling of goodwill towards the pilot eccentric enough to try and punt the thing round a Standard sequence which rapidly evaporates as said pilot (sweating buckets) takes a 5 minute free break between every other figure to gain enough height to carry on.

Cessna aerobat just seems like a bit of an oxymoron to me!

You can do a half decent sequence in an Aerobat but the question you have to ask is "is it fun?", (OK I will admit, given nothing else to do it in it is - but sooooo much more so in most other aero machines:ok:).:}

Thanks for the replies , I have not done any serious Aeros and fancied owning my first Plane outright and it being something I could Aero in.
I have a share in an Archer at the moment and have no intention of getting rid of the share.
The draw to the C150 Aerobat was easy servicing and a good starter for introduction to Aeros, I am familiar with the
C150/152 ,
I would love a Pitts , however I do think it is too far a step up for me at the moment maybe if I really take to Aeros I will consider one in the future !!
EL

I'll echo much of what has been said here: Don't do it!

The 150/152 Aerobat is an easy-to-fly training spamcan that just happens to be strong enough to be cleared for 'aerobatics'. It's grossly underpowered, every manouevre is an exercise in energy-management. It doesn't do inverted; the donk stops as soon as 0g or less is applied. It has the control feel of a London bus, with little feedback and far too much slop in pitch and roll authority. The doors tend to burst open due to torsional flexing when you are halfway round a roll, and to cap it all I never found the harness to be particularly good at restraining pilot in seat.

Don't get me wrong, it's a piece of cake to do basic stuff in; you could train a chimp to loop, barrel roll or stall-turn it, so forgiving is the handling, but don't expect it to be in any way rewarding. I had nearly 2000 hrs instructing on the things before I saw the light and started flying Chipmunks and Slingsby M Fireflys. Now those are more fun, the Bulldog too.

Get yourself into one of the above, or better still a CAP 10 or Pitts.

Buying a Cessna to do aeros is like using a Nissan Micra as a trackday car: it'll go round, but what's the point?

I know which id go for if I had 20k lying around I do but thats for a house. An extra 200 perhaps or anything fully aerobatic with 2 seats you have to be able top show off to mates BUT NOT A SPAMCAN. You will get bored after a couple of hours and you can only learn so much in the aerobatic ways.
David