I tend to be a little verbose at times, so my thanks in advance to all who get through the following and offer advice.
I'm new to the forum after lurking for a few months. I'm +/- 10 years from retirement, and while I can't predict what will happen tomorrow, I'm smart enough to know few things worth doing get done without a plan. I figure I should have at least ten good years of flying after I retire, and my wife and I are liable to pair up with another couple for a lot of stuff like a winter residence down south, travel, etc. All are on board with the idea of getting our own plane and travelling as a group.
One obvious answer today is the RV-10, and depending on what happens in the next five years I may go that route. In the meantime, I need to get a PPL and build time / experience. I've got the means to buy a plane, but also am an engineer who has built or fixed stuff most of my life. I look at new projects as an excuse to buy new tools and learn new skills.
My inclination is to purchase a -12iS kit and complete the build while I get either a sport license or PPL, with a goal of having my plane ready to go about the time I finish training. Only real question is whether I upgrade from sport to PPL in my own plane, and for the slight difference in costs I'm thinking straight to the PPL. We've got school within an hour that has a -12 in their training fleet.
An alternative is to purchase an old used plane, and that was my original thought. That's looking less and less likely, primarily because used planes strike me as comparatively expensive right now, and they're clearly a *lot* more expensive to operate and maintain than a home-built. I've looked at Beech Sundowner/Sierra and Cessna 172/182. All offer the ability to carry at least one more person than a -12, and the Sierra and 182 would go a bit faster. All should be a little more stable in rough air. All under $100K would have inferior avionics and relatively thirsty, older engines. I figure if I really want to take a third (or fourth) person for a ride, I can rent.
So, what are the questions? For those that have been-there-and-done-that, if you could start over today would you go the traditional flight school route, learning in a Cessna or Piper and paying $8K+ to get your PPL? Would you jump in and drop the better part of $100K to build something like the -12iS? Given today's used market, would *anyone* buy a 40+ y/o spam can instead of a -12iS (for a new pilot)? Does anyone think a 52 y/o Engineer is nuts for buying a plane before having a single flight lesson? Would it be foolish (as in dangerous for lack of sufficient experience) to consider a -9A? How many hours in a slower plane before one should even think about something like that? Oh, and one more. Is anyone willing to share what insurance costs are for a -12, along with your age and experience level? I've got a couple of emails off inquiring, but more info is always good.
From a purely rational perspective, I suppose I should get the PPL and then decide if I want to build a plane, but even with the -12 that probably means a year or more from PPL to flyable plane of my own. It would pain me greatly to cough up rental rates to fly in the meantime.
As an aside, I've got three kids with two in college and one finishing high school There is interest among them to pursue PPLs, so having our own plane for that also has $$$ benefits over traditional training. If even one of them follows through with it, I can see plane building being a semi-full time job as I near and enter retirement.
My thanks for comments / advice, even if you tell me I'm a fool for buying/building before flying. . .
I'm new to the forum after lurking for a few months. I'm +/- 10 years from retirement, and while I can't predict what will happen tomorrow, I'm smart enough to know few things worth doing get done without a plan. I figure I should have at least ten good years of flying after I retire, and my wife and I are liable to pair up with another couple for a lot of stuff like a winter residence down south, travel, etc. All are on board with the idea of getting our own plane and travelling as a group.
One obvious answer today is the RV-10, and depending on what happens in the next five years I may go that route. In the meantime, I need to get a PPL and build time / experience. I've got the means to buy a plane, but also am an engineer who has built or fixed stuff most of my life. I look at new projects as an excuse to buy new tools and learn new skills.
My inclination is to purchase a -12iS kit and complete the build while I get either a sport license or PPL, with a goal of having my plane ready to go about the time I finish training. Only real question is whether I upgrade from sport to PPL in my own plane, and for the slight difference in costs I'm thinking straight to the PPL. We've got school within an hour that has a -12 in their training fleet.
An alternative is to purchase an old used plane, and that was my original thought. That's looking less and less likely, primarily because used planes strike me as comparatively expensive right now, and they're clearly a *lot* more expensive to operate and maintain than a home-built. I've looked at Beech Sundowner/Sierra and Cessna 172/182. All offer the ability to carry at least one more person than a -12, and the Sierra and 182 would go a bit faster. All should be a little more stable in rough air. All under $100K would have inferior avionics and relatively thirsty, older engines. I figure if I really want to take a third (or fourth) person for a ride, I can rent.
So, what are the questions? For those that have been-there-and-done-that, if you could start over today would you go the traditional flight school route, learning in a Cessna or Piper and paying $8K+ to get your PPL? Would you jump in and drop the better part of $100K to build something like the -12iS? Given today's used market, would *anyone* buy a 40+ y/o spam can instead of a -12iS (for a new pilot)? Does anyone think a 52 y/o Engineer is nuts for buying a plane before having a single flight lesson? Would it be foolish (as in dangerous for lack of sufficient experience) to consider a -9A? How many hours in a slower plane before one should even think about something like that? Oh, and one more. Is anyone willing to share what insurance costs are for a -12, along with your age and experience level? I've got a couple of emails off inquiring, but more info is always good.
From a purely rational perspective, I suppose I should get the PPL and then decide if I want to build a plane, but even with the -12 that probably means a year or more from PPL to flyable plane of my own. It would pain me greatly to cough up rental rates to fly in the meantime.
As an aside, I've got three kids with two in college and one finishing high school There is interest among them to pursue PPLs, so having our own plane for that also has $$$ benefits over traditional training. If even one of them follows through with it, I can see plane building being a semi-full time job as I near and enter retirement.
My thanks for comments / advice, even if you tell me I'm a fool for buying/building before flying. . .