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Once the decision to purchase an airplane has been made, probably the very next decision is to determine what type of plane to shop for. And, to answer that question, yet another question must be answered: what is your mission? Will you need to carry several people and a substantial amount of luggage on long cross-country flights, or will you mostly be making local flights with just yourself and maybe one other person. Do you have at least a private license with an instrument rating, and want an airplane with which you can utilize those privileges, or do you hold a sport pilot license, with no plan of upgrading to a private? Do you need as much speed as you can get, or do you consider cabin comfort or short field or rough field performance more important? All of these questions and many more must be answered in order to define your mission. Realistically, though, for most pilots there will be no one mission description that will define all of their flying, and so it will be necessary to compromise upon the type of airplane to buy. If, for example, you mostly make short local flights, just sightseeing or visiting other airports in the area, then buy an airplane that is suited to that mission. For the occasional trip requiring more speed and load-hauling capability, rent an airplane that is suited to that particular mission. Burning lots of extra fuel, hauling around a lot of empty seats, and paying the significantly higher costs required to maintain a more complex airplane does not make sense when the full capabilities of that airplane are rarely needed. |
