Ok, folks. Update time.

I've looked around and e-mailed with a few folks about a couple ASW-27's (sadly, no Ventus 2 or LS6 is currently available in my price range).

I've also flown all of these ships in Condor, as well as their standard class versions.

I won't comment on the Condor experience, since it is purely subjective and probably has minimal connectivity to how the real world flight experience will be (having said that, it's still much better than nothing!).

Here are a couple of comments/questions:
1. I don't know what is going on, but it looks like the delta between a new ship and a 10+ year old ship is very small at the moment. Any comments on why that might be? Will more used ships become available when the season is over? Is there any other resource out there besides "Wings and Wheels?"

2. Remember I'm NEW. I just got my ticket this summer. Should my first ship really be flapped? I've never flown a flapped ship. My world consists of SGS 2-33 and PW-6. Any pilots who bought a flapped ship before flying one, speak up!

3. I want to fly badges and lots of cross country. I will land out...

4. The weather where I fly is weak (Seattle area). We have a house ridge with mild ridge thermals that work half the time or less. Breaking out from the ridge is possible and our better pilots fly far out on good days.

Does #2 - #4 change anyone's advice about my first ship?

-J