"Dude" wrote in message
...

Ahh, but what if what they buy is a trainer or trainer like plane? You
see,
you jumped a step in your logic. I have seen several older pilots
stepping

I agree completely that a training airplane fits the bill for many pilots.
But I also see lots of pilots with trainers who get bored after they get
their private certificate because they decide that cross-country flight or
aerobatics are what they really enjoy. So they buy a trainer but fly it
less than 50 hours per year, whereas perhaps they would get much more
enjoyment out of an aerobatic Citabria or a faster cross-country airplane in
which they can visit family.

Flying patterns change considerably after one gets a private certificate.
One huge factor in this is family support -- the pilot whose spouse is
thrilled with his/her first flight in an airplane may go on to buy a
cross-country flying machine, while the pilot whose spouse is terrified of
airplanes might be better off with a 2-seat aerobatic airplane. These sorts
of things cannot usually be predicted while a pilot is in training.


I think that you and Jay have found the mark above. It can be a seperate
skill set. Many students don't know anything about larger planes, while
nuts like me read everything we could get our hands as soon as we started
on
our private.

That is absolutely true, but no matter how much you read it is hard to have
a sense of weather patterns on your likely routes until you start flying.
If you discover that icing typically blocks Thanksgiving trips to visit
Grandma in the Northeast, that could have a radically different effect on
your airplane choice than if you lived in Texas.


--
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com