Would you buy a Tomahawk for 20k?

[kyleb]

A nearby flying club had a skipper- beautiful, solid, rigged perfectly. Tons of room in the cockpit.
I really tried to use it as a XC machine. Flew it into Boonville and Bridgeport (both valley airports, surrounded by mountains)
After I’d gotten checked out for the club and in the skipper, I realized while doing w/b for my XCs that I’d been overweight while checking out with the chief pilot (2 sessions? been almost two decades, so I don’t remember that detail)
I had to circle to gain enough altitude to safely clear the ridges at both airports, and the skipper climbs like an obese octogenarian.
Really wanted to fly that pretty, roomy, precise feeling plane, but it just didn’t work for me. And I weigh 150#

Skippers are reputed to be the worst climbers of the Tomahawk, Skipper, or C150/2. Also the slowest.

 

[Ventucky Red]

Skippers are reputed to be the worst climbers of the Tomahawk, Skipper, or C150/2. Also the slowest.

This is true, but like the Beech Sport (B19), you're not going to get there very fast, but it will be in Beech comfort... The Skipper is a solid little airplane that could have benefited from the Lycoming 0-290 rated at 140..., but the 0-235 won out..