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Ok. So I’ve run through much of the forums before I’m asking this question. It seems like a number things have changed recently in general aviation. I got my pilots license back when I was 18 y/o in 1999. I learned on a piper warrior. I really haven’t flown in the past 15 years. My log book has something like 100 hrs on it. Money got in the way. Now that I’m 37 I have some more disposable income and would like to get back into flying. I live in the northeast, close to Boston, MA. I’m a 15 min drive from Norwood, ma airport (KOWD). My mission is to fly my wife and I on weekend trips (as close as Martha’s vineyard or may be as far away as Montreal in Canada) with a couple times a year longer cross country flights. We don’t plan on having kids, so room for 2 adults mostly with the occasional couple in the back seat. I don’t want to rent because I like the freedom of owning (no minimum flying or adhering to a schedule). Here’s where I get stuck. I know the most “economical” route would be to buy a piper Cherokee (possibly 140/160/180), build some time and then get a mooney (m20c). BUT, if I was pretty sure I was going to buy a mooney … why not buy your second airplane first? What keeps jamming up my cogs is I recently got into simulator flying with x-plane and VR headsets with real rudder pedals. WOW. I know its not exactly like flying but because I already have my pilots license, I’m not “learning” any bad habits like other simmers who aren’t pilots and just fly. There is even a program called “pilot edge” that you login to and they have real-time ATC. It really is the future and it very cost effective instead of just flying around the pattern for $150/hr. They have very realistic models of Mooneys … I know, I know … you don’t learn everything in a sim but it really does cut down on learning as I can really narrow down my procedures, talking to ATC, etc Ok, after a long winded preamble … I’m looking to saving up some money in the next 2 years to buy a plane. Why not fly in the sim first, gain as much experience as I can and then instead of buying a time-builder … I can skip that step and go to a m20c? Its the plane I really want. Yes, yes … I know insurance will be higher the first year ($1,800 … higher??) . I think eventually I would get my instrument too because I live in the northeast and the weather can be unpredictable. I’m looking to spend some where between $45,000 to $55,000. I’d rather spend more money upfront and buy a better airplane then sink my money slowly into repairs. Something with good avionics and a 2 axis autopilot … I don’t see flying single pilot IFR without one … Ok … so … fly on the sim for 2 years and gain a couple hundred hrs with real time ATC and a virtual mooney .. and then when I’m ready, buy a m20c, find a good mooney flight instructor and get proficient. OR … tell me I’m crazy and I should still build hrs in my flight sim but get a Cherokee and build “real” hrs and then a few years after that get a mooney. Thoughts? It just seems like the future keeps creeping up on us .. VR will only get better as the years go by and training will be even more enhanced. Thanks, John