"Ben Hallert" ben.hallert@gmail.

Are you a Cirrus owner? Some of your posts seem to suggest it, or that
you're a fan.

I'm a fan of empirical reality. Cirrus makes and markets a product that is
deeply attarctive to small plane owners. The evidence of this is their
sales figures.

Can you provide some more personal insight into the
plane that we should know? My main beef right now is just buying
inside the depreciation window, like I said. I certainly didn't mean
to set off your 'defend cirrus' circuit!

The "plane as investment" concept is for committed dreamers. I'm this way
whenever I encounter misinformed statement about a subject that interests
me. Your speculation about Cirrus emergency procedures training was either
a joke or slothfully misinformed.

It's an awful pretty plane, and the cockpit looks nice. I'm very
interested in seeing how those and other similar composites fair going
forward. I'm also a fan of the Lancair Columbia. Maybe not the same
market, but both seem to have some real similarities and great
potential.

The cost of flying your own plane is the impact on your available resources,
the amount you pay to look at it and the amount you pay to fly. Everyone
with a couple hundred grand in cash and the itch to fly tries to balance
these. That amount of cash can get you into a new Cirrus, or Cessna or a
few other planes. It can also get you into a used Cheyenne or a few other
turboprop planes. There are myriad issues to consider. Insurance and
maintenance are two areas where a new light single shines. Especially if
you have partners. Glass cockpits with approach, weather and traffic
information improve situational awareness, especially for infrequent flyers.
Whether any individual pilot is actually at less risk depends on how they
use these tools. Nothing new there. How much money you got? What kind of
flying do you want to do?

moo