On Fri, 08 Aug 2003 07:51:22 GMT, Roger Halstead newsgroups@rogerhalstead.
com wrote:
Are you sure on that? A beech Bonanza (F33 and Debonair) will both
land shorter than a 172, but I don't know the figures on the
Sundowner.

The Bo and Deb have enormous Fowler flaps. The Musketeer/Sundowner has
plain flaps. Also, when it comes to taking off, 285 hp in the S-35 Bonanza
with 10 degrees of flaps makes for a much quicker acceleration to about
the same takeoff speed.

As for the original poster, when I learned to fly, I started in a C152,
moved to a C172, did my cross countries in a 200hp Beech Musketeer
(with the IO-360). I did my checkride at around 50 hours or so. I don't
think there's much truth that changing planes will significantly hamper
your progress - so take which ever you fancy, knowing you can always
change! I did the same during my instrument training, except that time
I did a couple of hours in a Warrior, several in an Arrow, about half
in a C172, a little in a Bonanza, and some in a Tiger. I just took whatever
plane was free on the schedule and I was checked out in. Having the
ability to be flexible in which plane I took meant I didn't suffer
continous delays because of scheduling problems.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"