Assuming you want the aeroplane for travel, you’d want it to be fast, have a long endurance, and be able to carry a suitable number of people and bags. You’d also want it to have low hourly costs, a long time between engine overhauls, and a modern cockpit with a full set of instruments for IFR flight including GPS and weather radar.
A common fault that many light aircraft have is that they may seat 4 people, have luggage space for plenty of bags and carry fuel for 6 hours flying but they can’t carry all of it without exceeding the max take-off weight. A 4 seat Cessna C172, for example, may only be able to carry three people with bags and reasonable endurance. Also, the more flash equipment you have in the cockpit, the heavier the aircraft is and that eats into your payload.
[hijack]Sorry, figured this is as good a place to ask as any, and the question is answered.
There are several Instructors in here who could answer this for me. When I get back to the States, I want to get a Private Pilot license. How much can I expect to pay to get this, and how long would it take if I only had time on the weekend. Prices and times for the lower level licenses are appreciated. Thanks.[/hijack]
It will vary quite a bit depending on your circumstances, of course, but figure on something like $10,000 and six months.
To the thread topic, understanding of basic aeronautics has advanced considerably even since the big wave of training in WW2. Read some material from the period, such as Langewiesche’s Stick and Rudder, and you’ll be amazed at all the misconceptions and outright errors it contains, notably on the use of the rudder. Meteorology is better understood too, and I’ll join in pointing out the better understanding and systematization of decisionmaking - that has now the reverse of what it was in the early days.
It depends on where you live. Flying time is predicated on weather. If you limit yourself to the weekends and there is great weather variability then you will miss out on a lot of flying. If you can’t log at least 4 hrs a week then you will lose what you learn and it will cost more over time in additional hours.
How often you need to fly depends very much on the student. When I did my PPL I was doing 0.7 hours a week and didn’t lose anything from week to week. Everyone is different and some may need more while some may be able to get away with less but 4 hours is a lot of flying, I’d think he should be able to plan for less than that.
It depends on what you want out of flying. Richard covered the travel needs.
I like good weather sight-seeing flight. So, for me, the GPS and full instrument panel isn’t as important as really good visibility from the cockpit. My husband likes to take pictures, so when he’s along we want a high-wing like a Cessna because you can see more of the ground than with a low-wing airplane. On the other hand, if I’m flying to breakfast near Chicago, a high-traffic area, I might want a low-wing aircraft because when turning I can see other aircraft better.
I found that what I really liked when I got my license was trying new airplanes - so for me part of the attraction is whether or not I’ve flown that particular model before.
For a lot of pilots on a budget (which is pretty much all of us, really, aside from the Gates-level of wealthy) cost-per-hour can be huge. I trained in C-150’s, small two-seaters, in part because it was a substantial savings over using large 4-seaters (although I’ll be the first list some downsides to using the C150). Some of the most recent designs get extremely good fuel use compared to the 1970’s era and earlier airplanes.
If you like to fly on turf runways or even off field then the landing gear might become a factor.
I know aerobatic pilots, guys who do loops and rolls and fly upside down for fun. For them, maneuverability is tops, as well as how easy you can leave during a catastrophic emergency.
So no, it’s not exactly like a sports car. It’s more like choosing a mini-van vs. a convertable vs. luxury sedan vs. SUV vs. big pick-up truck vs. something else. Even on the small end of aviation different airplanes are built for different purposes.
For training something like the small Cessnas and Pipers are popular because, while they don’t do anything in spectacular fashion they do do a little of everything moderately well. So a student can get a taste of what airplanes are capable of before specializing later. Or just choose to continue with Cessnas and Pipers. Plenty of people enjoy a basic private pilot license for decades without feeling compelled to go much beyond it.