jix

actually learne to drive in a 1963 dumptruck with a 2 spd rearend. Thanks for the posts guys, its nice to get real insight. I think for the pre solo hrs I am actually going to take heed to the good advice here and wait to buy. who knows, maybe God has a perfect mooney in mind for me but not yet. Its not a long time and the idea of letting their warior take the beating on my first few landings does make more sense. I have god only knows how many hours logged on flight sims. I know its not entirely the same thing but I have also been up in friends airplanes and have flown some. so I do have some conceptual knowledge when it comes to maintaining headings and altitudes etc. no lanings though.. only sims and again. i think the landings in a rent would make more sense tilll i solo. again, thanks a whole lot guys. sincerely,

I am looking for a first airplane and have been looking for quite a while now. I have given a lot of thought to many things but the one thing I am sure about is that I havnt thought of everything so I thought I would turn to the guys and gals out there who remember their first days of flight. Some of the things I have thought of are, 1. I dont want to rent a plane to train in because it just seems like too much of a waste of my money. I want to use the cash towards my own plane and its upkeep. 2. I dont want something so underpowered that Ill be unhppy with it the first couple hundred hours. I want somehting I can fly happily for several years.. Ill need to fly pretty regularly from SE Colorado , to West Central Texas pretty reguarly occasionally bringing one or 2 people back with me. some of the reasons I am considering the Ranger is because of the range and useful load, I know you dont get both but the distance I would need to go would allow me to reduce fuel to increase the load some. Also I dont want this to be a 4-5 hr trip ( not that I dont love to fly) but the idea of a 140, sport or anything that is under 180 hp just dont quite seem like what I have in mind. I called a guy about a bonanza 35, was a prettty nice looking plane with great hrs on it. decent price but he didnt want to sell it to me, told me that it was no good for a person with no hrs. That its a plane for more experienced pilots, while I respect his regard for peoples well being I dont see how that makes much sense since its suposedly way easier to land a tricycle style gear then a tail dragger and most people this guys age learned with a tail dragger. maybe im wrong. Anyhow thanks for reading this far. Any feedback would be appriciated. The Ranger I am looking at is older with lower hrs on it and needs a lot of cosmetic work but seems like it would realy fit the bill. Thanks in advance