I believe cost is one of the main reasons people choose to learn in
low-end aircraft. If a Mooney rented for the same price as a 150, I am
sure most students will pick the Mooney over the 150. Compared to
amount of workload needed for learning the basic stick and rudder
skills, the gear and prop are only minor distractions. FWIW, I first
learned to fly in a Katana, which had a constant speed prop. It is not
complex by any means, but operating the blue knob was far simpler than
learning takeoffs and landings.


On Mar 23, 12:36 pm, "Kingfish" wrote:
Total stream-of-consciousness post here...

Anbody learn to fly in a high performance complex aircraft? Bonanza,
Saratoga, 182RG and the like? I know it's possible, just wonder how
much longer it'd take for a student to master something with
significant power and prop & gear controls. (I did all my instructing
in 172s and PA28s)
I watched that goofy Segal movie Executive Decision the other day
where Kurt Russell was a student pilot flying a Bo, and later used his
stellar(?) flying skills to plant a 747 at a GA airport. It got me
thinking about ab initio folks learning in Cirruses (Cirri?)
Obviously with no prop or gear control it's a simpler aircraft to fly
but the performance is equal to or better than a A36.