I am new to this forum, hope my questions aren't too newbie and annoying. Let me know. I've found search forums in most of these sites are pretty lame.
Here's the deal. I'm in my late 50's, and working toward my private certification. I will be eligible to solo in a few weeks, my CFI tells me. There are a lot of reasons to fly (as most members here already know, I'm sure, sorry to restate the obvious). For me & my wife, there are a lot of reasons to own a private aircraft, both business and pleasure.
My CFI is with a local flying club. I'm learning in a Cherokee, but have access to a friend's 182 as well once I'm certified. I plan to rent and get some serious hours under my belt before I buy an aircraft. I plan to pursue IFR training as soon as I get my basic certificate. Then, I want to buy an aircraft.
Given that we live 1000+ miles from family, and I my business requires me to fly to all points of the CONUS 4-6 times per year, I'm looking at a performance aircraft that lends itself to long-distance crosscountry travel. I also want some cargo/passenger capability (my wife and I have 6 children between us).
As such, it seems to me that a twin makes some sense.
I've always loved the look of twins, and frankly always imagined myself in one. I don't know if that makes any real sense, but I'm being honest here. I had assumed for years that they were prohibitively expensive, but after doing some research, it seems that twins are a lot less out of reach than I thought.
I don't want to be overreaching here, but it seems to me that at my age and the type of flying I see myself doing over the next 10-15 years, it may make as much or more sense to plan to get into a twin as my first personally-owned aircraft than to buy a 172 and kindasorta think about moving up someday.
So my questions to you experienced folks are these:
1. How much more training, realistically, am I looking at to fly a twin?
2. Is the cost per hour of a twin realistically 3X that of a single engine plane, as some sites say?
3. Anything else you have to tell me... I'm all ears at this point.
Here's the deal. I'm in my late 50's, and working toward my private certification. I will be eligible to solo in a few weeks, my CFI tells me. There are a lot of reasons to fly (as most members here already know, I'm sure, sorry to restate the obvious). For me & my wife, there are a lot of reasons to own a private aircraft, both business and pleasure.
My CFI is with a local flying club. I'm learning in a Cherokee, but have access to a friend's 182 as well once I'm certified. I plan to rent and get some serious hours under my belt before I buy an aircraft. I plan to pursue IFR training as soon as I get my basic certificate. Then, I want to buy an aircraft.
Given that we live 1000+ miles from family, and I my business requires me to fly to all points of the CONUS 4-6 times per year, I'm looking at a performance aircraft that lends itself to long-distance crosscountry travel. I also want some cargo/passenger capability (my wife and I have 6 children between us).
As such, it seems to me that a twin makes some sense.
I've always loved the look of twins, and frankly always imagined myself in one. I don't know if that makes any real sense, but I'm being honest here. I had assumed for years that they were prohibitively expensive, but after doing some research, it seems that twins are a lot less out of reach than I thought.
I don't want to be overreaching here, but it seems to me that at my age and the type of flying I see myself doing over the next 10-15 years, it may make as much or more sense to plan to get into a twin as my first personally-owned aircraft than to buy a 172 and kindasorta think about moving up someday.
So my questions to you experienced folks are these:
1. How much more training, realistically, am I looking at to fly a twin?
2. Is the cost per hour of a twin realistically 3X that of a single engine plane, as some sites say?
3. Anything else you have to tell me... I'm all ears at this point.
