I'm currently in "ground school" and hope to begin my actual flight
instruction soon. I will need to keep a close eye on the costs involved.

Some classmates are tossing around the idea of us purchasing a plane as a
group, doing our training, and then selling the plane. When our training s
completed, we would either sell to a "third party" buyer or allow some group
members who want to keep and share the plane to "buy back" shares from other
members at a discount.

Does anybody out there have any experience with such a scheme? Is this
really practical? Any solid info about legal requirements, insurance
issues, maintenance and storage costs, or tips for purchasing / selling a
plane would be appreciated.

Suggestions as to appropriate "training" aircraft (beyond the Cessna 150 /
172) would also be appreciated.

Additionally, would it be wise to contract a single CFI to do our
instruction? At approximately 50 hours per pupil, they could log a lot of
time. Maybe we could get a small discount?

Craig Slein, Houston, Texas