On Jun 13, 9:09 pm, Longworth wrote:
On Jun 13, 8:16 pm, Luke Skywalker wrote:
. Hello:



You have gotten pretty good suggestions so far...all things equal
where I would send you is to either the Skylane or a 180 HP Cardinal.

I agree with your assessment about 180HP Cardinal. We own one in
the last 4 years. We fly between 200 to 300hrs a year with VFR locals
and IFR cross country. It handles crosswind much better than C172. I
have not compared spec but the Cardinal appear to be better at short
field landing. We love the roomy backseat with plenty of room for our
50lb dogs, camera bag, video bag, air bag etc. The cargo area is also
very spacious. We started aircamping last year. With the backseat
removed, we had no problems carrying two folding bikes, all tenting
equipment, the dog and the rest of the luggage. We also love to take
aerial pictures/videos. The strutless Cardinal is just simply the
best for this purpose.

Parts availability have never been a problem. We try to do of lot
of maintenance ourselves with lots of tips and tricks from fellow
cardinalfyers at CFO. I highly recommend checking out CFO's website

http://www.cardinalflyers.com/

Hai Longworth

Hal.

The CArdinal (180hp) is in my view one of the best deals going in
aviation right now. It is a buyers market but there are great deals
on the bird because in no small measure it still carries some of the
"angst" from its inception....which was all about instructors not
knowing how to instruct in an airplane that didnt have a seperate
elevator from the stabilizer!

The airplane has all the advantages you mention..I know a bunch of
folks who use it for aerial photography, including one chum who does a
land office business photographing sites for sale in East Texas.

I fell in love with one when I was in College because it was the IFR
trainer for the club and I got a lot of time in it then. It was also
a fun X country plane particularly to take ones date out on a picnic.
The panel is nicely laid out etc.

I have done some prepurchase flights for a bunch of them over the last
10 years and have not seen a dissapointed buyer yet. If I didnt ahve
the 175 I would be looking for one!

The CFO site is great...I poke there a lot.

Robert