Hi guys,
First time post here but have been reading the forums for about 2 years now. I have a question that has been asked many times in previous threads but none of these questions were specific enough for my mission. I am nearing retirement and also a new pilot. I plan to continue flying after work from that flight school (172) to build hours and the occasional XC on weekends with wife.
My mission:
1) Primarily XC (greater than 2 hours)
2) No need for flying upside down (I hate roller coasters & I'm afraid of heights as it is)
3) Primarily the wife, dog and me with the occasional flight with 2 grandkids.
Here is the real kicker. After reading the forums, the trade off between the -10 and -14 leads me to the -14 (or maybe -12). However, for the occasional trip with the grandkids, I do NOT have a flight school close to my house to rent a 4 place. So if I go with the -14 that will eliminate any convenient possibility of taking the grandkids to Disney World, camping etc. I will need to take a commercial flight for this mission. The grandkids live an hour away (by car) and there is a nice little airport that I could land and pick them up.
We are a close family and we have the grandkids every other weekend to give my daughter and SIL alone time and to do their house projects. So if I go with the -14 that will eliminate 50% of my weekends for flying, in addition no joy flying with them.
The question is: is it worth the extra cost of operations (plane & insurance) for the likely monthly trip with the grandkids? I gather the extra insurance is $500-$1000 more per year. This (-14) is a real easy question if I had a flight school near my house to rent the 172. I am stressing out over this decision because if I stay with the -14, I do not want to regret not building the -10 later.
Wifey does not want to offer any suggestions as she has the same internal conflict. She would probably tell me the -10 if I pushed her. She would like to have the "just in case" option. But I am not sure the extra cost is worth the "just in case"
Any all all comments are welcome. I need a variety of ideas and maybe some ideas that I have not considered yet.
First time post here but have been reading the forums for about 2 years now. I have a question that has been asked many times in previous threads but none of these questions were specific enough for my mission. I am nearing retirement and also a new pilot. I plan to continue flying after work from that flight school (172) to build hours and the occasional XC on weekends with wife.
My mission:
1) Primarily XC (greater than 2 hours)
2) No need for flying upside down (I hate roller coasters & I'm afraid of heights as it is)
3) Primarily the wife, dog and me with the occasional flight with 2 grandkids.
Here is the real kicker. After reading the forums, the trade off between the -10 and -14 leads me to the -14 (or maybe -12). However, for the occasional trip with the grandkids, I do NOT have a flight school close to my house to rent a 4 place. So if I go with the -14 that will eliminate any convenient possibility of taking the grandkids to Disney World, camping etc. I will need to take a commercial flight for this mission. The grandkids live an hour away (by car) and there is a nice little airport that I could land and pick them up.
We are a close family and we have the grandkids every other weekend to give my daughter and SIL alone time and to do their house projects. So if I go with the -14 that will eliminate 50% of my weekends for flying, in addition no joy flying with them.
The question is: is it worth the extra cost of operations (plane & insurance) for the likely monthly trip with the grandkids? I gather the extra insurance is $500-$1000 more per year. This (-14) is a real easy question if I had a flight school near my house to rent the 172. I am stressing out over this decision because if I stay with the -14, I do not want to regret not building the -10 later.
Wifey does not want to offer any suggestions as she has the same internal conflict. She would probably tell me the -10 if I pushed her. She would like to have the "just in case" option. But I am not sure the extra cost is worth the "just in case"
Any all all comments are welcome. I need a variety of ideas and maybe some ideas that I have not considered yet.