Ben Hallert wrote:

1. Getting qualified in a new plane. Since I might go from a low wing
Cherokee to a high wing 150/152, I guess there would be some real dual
time needed to get everything down. Unless I can find an instructor
who's wafer thin, I could see this being a complication.

A 152 can carry about 530 pounds. Reduce that for the radios, dirt, second paint
job, etc., and we're talking about 500 pounds. If you're 220 and you hire a 180
pound instructor, you'll still be able to put 16 gallons in the tanks. This is
just an example.

Just be careful with your W&B calcs before the flight and put the right amount
of gas in the tanks.

2. Making it worth while. Without having to worry about aircraft
loans, what's a realistic $$$ figure these days for flying? Say I do
100-200 hours a year, is it reasonable to manage total costs of $40-45
an hour? Is that on the high or low side? (figuring gas, tie down
fees, insurance, inspections, saving for the tear down, mechanical
surprises, etc)

Probably a little on the light side.

3. Flying alone as a 220-240lb person, would a 150/152/Tomahawk be ok?
I climb at 800-1000FPM in the Piper Cherokee, and I'm sure it'd be
slower in the 152, but how much worse? I'd hate to spend the first
half of my cross-country flight climbing.

You'd be fine in any of them. I owned a 150 for years. It had a single NAV/COM,
LORAN, MBR, and Mode-C transponder. You would be able to fill the tanks and
carry yourself and a few pounds of luggage. The rate of climb will be a bit over
600 fpm at sea level. Best cruise is at 6500', where you will see about 100
knots. You'll burn a bit less than 6 gph.

4. If I wanted to put some extra money to find a plane in this class w/
IFR stuff so I can work on that rating next, about how much does that
usually add to the cost? How often do these planes actually have IFR
stuff?

These planes rarely have an IFR stack; I had one in mine because I wanted to
train in it. When I bought my Maule, I moved the radios into the new plane. You
might consider doing the same. If you choose to go the same route, you will want
to buy most of the stuff new -- that will add at least $15,000 by the time you
get everything installed, depending on what you buy (that's a panel-mount GPS,
NAV/COM with GS, MBR, and mode-C xpndr). If, on the other hand, you want to sell
the stack when you sell the plane, used gear is the way to go. You'll cut the
purchase price in half, though the installation cost will stay the same.

George Patterson
He who tries to carry a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in
no other way.