been lurking here for a while trying to define my mission, my needs vs wants and how to best balance all that with a plane purchase.
I am a low time pilot who will be operating out of a 2500’ grass strip and traveling usually within 400 nautical miles to typical municipal airports (paved and plenty of room) but I don’t want (not need) to be limited to large fields. I fancy getting skilled enough to get into smaller places but I don’t need a super cub.
I have a family so 4-seats is a must. I think an early, lightweight 182 could be fun to fly locally and still get us all wherever we need for weekend trips, $100 burgers etc.
The downsides that I can see with the 182 are draggy airframe, associated fuel cost & low TBO on the o-470.
Is the attitude of “get a 182, it will do most things good enough” likely the right one for me at this point or should I look more for dedicated X/C machines like Mooney, Bonanza, ???
I am a low time pilot who will be operating out of a 2500’ grass strip and traveling usually within 400 nautical miles to typical municipal airports (paved and plenty of room) but I don’t want (not need) to be limited to large fields. I fancy getting skilled enough to get into smaller places but I don’t need a super cub.
I have a family so 4-seats is a must. I think an early, lightweight 182 could be fun to fly locally and still get us all wherever we need for weekend trips, $100 burgers etc.
The downsides that I can see with the 182 are draggy airframe, associated fuel cost & low TBO on the o-470.
Is the attitude of “get a 182, it will do most things good enough” likely the right one for me at this point or should I look more for dedicated X/C machines like Mooney, Bonanza, ???