When to buy your own plane?

i really enjoy having TCAS when going into busy airports.

Point of clarification: What you have on an SR20 is not TCAS. That's what airliners have. You likely have TIS-B, that is standard on the SR20. There's a small chance that someone poured a bunch of extra money into it and got TAS (which is part of the GTS package)... But none of those are TCAS. It's a common misconception.

More on what the differences are here: https://galvinflying.com/tis-tas-and-the-other/

i still like the idea of my own plane. maybe i could find something around 18k just to build up hours in and keep the cirrus membership for when ever i want to take passengers somewhere..a tail dragger with tundra tires would be awesome.:)

Yes!

Given your love of gadgets, you'll probably want one like this: https://www.trade-a-plane.com/searc...HUSKY+A-1C&listing_id=2240847&s-type=aircraft
 
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So you're expecting to fly 20 hours a month, but you only have 45 in fixed wing and 75 total? That's a heckuva pace, especially if long-distance travel isn't part of your mission. In one year, you could have your instrument, commercial, CFI, and probably have taken everyone you know out for an expensive cheeseburger.

Then what?

I was going to say that an Arrow or R182 would easily meet all of your missions for less than $4K a month... But there's a lot of flying you have yet to explore.

So... Make some friends at the airport (or on PoA) who are willing to give you some new experiences. Fly into the backcountry (preferably as part of a mountain flying course). Turn upside down. Fly something yellow. Fly something with no paint at all. Scare some animals. Scare yourself (not on purpose). Land on water. Land on snow. Land on grass, dirt, and gravel. Go somewhere far away. Fly into Airventure (Oshkosh). Fly into a busy Class B airport. Fly into someplace that hasn't seen an airplane for a while. Fly something without an engine. Fly something that's been in combat. Fly things made of metal from Cessna, Piper, Beech, and Mooney. Fly things made of fabric. Fly things made of plastic. Fly high wings. Fly low wings. Fly mid-wings. Fly biplanes. Fly when the winds are gusting to 30+ knots. Fly when the weather is at ILS minimums.

Then, fly on the most beautiful damn day you can imagine and see if you wish you were in one of those other airplanes.

There's so much flying to discover, and there's no way to know what your favorite niche is with only 75 hours. If you buy your airplane now, you may never discover it, because you won't want to fly other airplanes (much) when you're paying for one that's still sitting on the ground.

Signed,

A guy who did everything on that list in his first 1500 hours and wouldn't trade away any of it.

Reading that made me want to go fly the **** out of something, right now!
 
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