View Full Version : Need advice for starting with a 172 or 152
jlareau2124
September 14th 11, 08:14 PM
So I am a freshman in college and my ultimate goal is to make it as a commercial pilot. I was planning to attend Embry Riddle this semester but decided to defer a year to save money and acquire my pilots certificate locally around me where its cheaper. My question is whether it would be worth the extra forty or so on every lesson to fly a 172 over a 142? Keeping in mind where I want to go, would flying a 142 hurt me overall financially and/or skill wise?
Thanks
September 14th 11, 09:04 PM
jlareau2124 > wrote:
>
> So I am a freshman in college and my ultimate goal is to make it as a
> commercial pilot. I was planning to attend Embry Riddle this semester
> but decided to defer a year to save money and acquire my pilots
> certificate locally around me where its cheaper. My question is whether
> it would be worth the extra forty or so on every lesson to fly a 172
> over a 142? Keeping in mind where I want to go, would flying a 142 hurt
> me overall financially and/or skill wise?
>
> Thanks
The question is, will you and an instructor put a 152 near max gross?
Other than that, I see no difference in basic instruction in either one.
And 60 hours X $40/hour = $2,400.
--
Jim Pennino
Remove .spam.sux to reply.
vaughn[_3_]
September 14th 11, 10:55 PM
> wrote in message
...
> The question is, will you and an instructor put a 152 near max gross?
>
> Other than that, I see no difference in basic instruction in either one.
>
> And 60 hours X $40/hour = $2,400.
Yep, what Jim said.
If you were thinking about buying a plane, the answer might be different. I
received all of my private instruction and even took my check ride in a 152.
After that, checking out in a 172 was a one-hour affair. The 152 is still my
favorite plane for local flying and hamburger flights. If I actually wanted to
go somewhere, my choice would be the 172 hands down.
Vaughn
RST Engineering[_2_]
September 15th 11, 03:09 AM
On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:14:14 +0000, jlareau2124
> wrote:
>
>So I am a freshman in college and my ultimate goal is to make it as a
>commercial pilot. I was planning to attend Embry Riddle this semester
>but decided to defer a year to save money and acquire my pilots
>certificate locally around me where its cheaper. My question is whether
>it would be worth the extra forty or so on every lesson to fly a 172
>over a 142? Keeping in mind where I want to go, would flying a 142 hurt
>me overall financially and/or skill wise?
>
>Thanks
If you are REALLY serious about it, negotiate a long term loan to BUY
a 172 and put it on leaseback. Even a well-used 172 with some decent
avionics and stuff that isn't falling apart will garner enough income
to pay off the loan. Then your flying is costing you nothing but
fuel. That's the smart person's move.
Thanks,
Jim
September 15th 11, 03:56 AM
RST Engineering > wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:14:14 +0000, jlareau2124
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>So I am a freshman in college and my ultimate goal is to make it as a
>>commercial pilot. I was planning to attend Embry Riddle this semester
>>but decided to defer a year to save money and acquire my pilots
>>certificate locally around me where its cheaper. My question is whether
>>it would be worth the extra forty or so on every lesson to fly a 172
>>over a 142? Keeping in mind where I want to go, would flying a 142 hurt
>>me overall financially and/or skill wise?
>>
>>Thanks
>
> If you are REALLY serious about it, negotiate a long term loan to BUY
> a 172 and put it on leaseback. Even a well-used 172 with some decent
> avionics and stuff that isn't falling apart will garner enough income
> to pay off the loan. Then your flying is costing you nothing but
> fuel. That's the smart person's move.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
If you think that is true in general, particularly in today's economy, and
not highly dependant on the level of activity at the airport, I have some
prime beach front property in Montana to sell you.
In the AOPA archives somewhere is an article that discusses the many things
that happen when you fly your leaseback without paying the rental fee as
just another renter and it is well worth reading.
I'm not saying this won't work, just that one has to do a lot of homework
first to try to ensure one doesn't wind up with an airplane payment with
insufficient income to cover it.
--
Jim Pennino
Remove .spam.sux to reply.
Andrew Sarangan
September 16th 11, 04:10 AM
On Sep 14, 4:04*pm, wrote:
> jlareau2124 > wrote:
>
> > So I am a freshman in college and my ultimate goal is to make it as a
> > commercial pilot. I was planning to attend Embry Riddle this semester
> > but decided to defer a year to save money and acquire my pilots
> > certificate locally around me where its cheaper. My question is whether
> > it would be worth the extra forty or so on every lesson to fly a 172
> > over a 142? Keeping in mind where I want to go, would flying a 142 hurt
> > me overall financially and/or skill wise?
>
> > Thanks
>
> The question is, will you and an instructor put a 152 near max gross?
>
> Other than that, I see no difference in basic instruction in either one.
>
> And 60 hours X $40/hour = $2,400.
>
> --
> Jim Pennino
>
> Remove .spam.sux to reply.
At first I thought the "142" was a typo. But it seems 142 was a real
model name, before Cessna switched it to 150.
But I agree with the above response. It makes little difference which
airplane you choose to learn in.
Kingfish
September 16th 11, 03:03 PM
>
> > If you are REALLY serious about it, negotiate a long term loan to BUY
> > a 172 and put it on leaseback. *Even a well-used 172 with some decent
> > avionics and stuff that isn't falling apart will garner enough income
> > to pay off the loan. *Then your flying is costing you nothing but
> > fuel. *That's the smart person's move.
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Jim
>
> If you think that is true in general, particularly in today's economy, and
> not highly dependant on the level of activity at the airport, I have some
> prime beach front property in Montana to sell you.
>
> In the AOPA archives somewhere is an article that discusses the many things
> that happen when you fly your leaseback without paying the rental fee as
> just another renter and it is well worth reading.
>
> I'm not saying this won't work, just that one has to do a lot of homework
> first to try to ensure one doesn't wind up with an airplane payment with
> insufficient income to cover it.
>
> --
> Jim Pennino
I have to agree with Jim P - if there was an ironclad guarantee you'd
cover the costs of the leaseback plane 100% then *everybody* would be
doing it. I had this conversation years ago when I was instructing,
and the school owner debunked the theory handily for me. He said the
*best* you could hope for was having your own flying paid for but
nothing beyond that. If a plane is flying enough every month to
generate a profit, the increased maintenance would eat it up quickly.
Two years ago a flight school in nearby White Plains NY (a wealthy
area) tried to sell me a nearly-new Cessna 400 at a discounted price
with the idea that I could lease it back to them and cover the monthly
payment. With no guarantees the plane would rent enough to cover a
$2600 monthly payment (never mind maintenance) I had to politely
decline. Now, a 30 year old 172 may be a safer bet than a $600k Cessna
400, but I'd want to see rental records showing consistently high
utilization before I'd make the leap.
jlareau2124
September 16th 11, 04:00 PM
Oh haha I did mean 152 so that was a typo. I guess I'm going to go with the 152 then to save the money I'll be needing later. Don't think I'll be looking to buy/lease a plane anytime soon though, but hopefully one day.
Thanks for all the responses,
Justin
box750
September 16th 11, 04:07 PM
On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:09:42 -0700, RST Engineering wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:14:14 +0000, jlareau2124
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>So I am a freshman in college and my ultimate goal is to make it as a
>>commercial pilot. I was planning to attend Embry Riddle this semester
>>but decided to defer a year to save money and acquire my pilots
>>certificate locally around me where its cheaper. My question is whether
>>it would be worth the extra forty or so on every lesson to fly a 172
>>over a 142? Keeping in mind where I want to go, would flying a 142 hurt
>>me overall financially and/or skill wise?
>>
>>Thanks
>
> If you are REALLY serious about it, negotiate a long term loan to BUY
> a 172 and put it on leaseback. Even a well-used 172 with some decent
> avionics and stuff that isn't falling apart will garner enough income
> to pay off the loan. Then your flying is costing you nothing but
> fuel. That's the smart person's move.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
This may be the worst advice I have seen on RAP in years.
--
Hacker10: http://www.hacker10.com
I am in no way affiliated with Frank Merlott
Greg Russell
September 17th 11, 11:15 PM
On Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:00:47 +0000, jlareau2124 wrote in
:
> Oh haha I did mean 152 so that was a typo. ...
Two typos, actually.
> Don't think I'll be looking to buy/lease a plane anytime soon though,
> but hopefully one day.
Don't ever forget that buying a small airplane is the cheapest part of
owning one, but no worries ... if you do forget, you'll be reminded at
least every annual inspection.
Joe Herman
September 19th 11, 08:20 PM
I will caveat this by saying that I'm not a commercial pilot, just a private pilot with about 275 hrs and an instrument rating - so take this however you want:
I would say that the 152 and 172 are very similar airplanes, so I doubt that time in one would be considered any better than time in the other. Both are simple, single engine, fixed gear airplanes. If you were going to say that one was a complex airplane (retractable, variable pitch etc) or single engine vs multi engine, I'd say that makes a bigger difference.
I'd save your $ and fly in the 152.
Joe
On 14 Sep 2011 03:14 PM ,jlareau2124 > wrote:
>
> So I am a freshman in college and my ultimate goal is to make it as a
> commercial pilot. I was planning to attend Embry Riddle this semester
> but decided to defer a year to save money and acquire my pilots
> certificate locally around me where its cheaper. My question is whether
> it would be worth the extra forty or so on every lesson to fly a 172
> over a 142? Keeping in mind where I want to go, would flying a 142 hurt
> me overall financially and/or skill wise?
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
>
> --
> jlareau2124
--
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Martin Hotze[_3_]
September 22nd 11, 05:56 PM
Am 19.09.2011 21:20, schrieb Joe Herman:
> I'd save your $ and fly in the 152.
but if you want to take yourself, your girlfriend and a small bag for a
weekend hideaway and if you want to top off and you are MSL and it is
more than 25 degrees warm than you want to go for the C172, I guess.
#m
--
"What would I do with 72 virgins? That's not a reward,
that's a punishment. Give me two seasoned whores any day."
(Billy Connolly)
vaughn[_3_]
September 23rd 11, 04:37 PM
"Martin Hotze" > wrote in message
...
> Am 19.09.2011 21:20, schrieb Joe Herman:
>> I'd save your $ and fly in the 152.
>
> but if you want to take yourself, your girlfriend and a small bag for a
> weekend hideaway and if you want to top off and you are MSL and it is more
> than 25 degrees warm than you want to go for the C172, I guess.
Agreed, but that wasn't the question. For actual travel, the 172 is a far more
capable airplane than the 152. For training, (assuming modestly-sized
instructor & student) the 152 is fine. For local solo rental flying, I prefer
the 152.
Vaughn
Martin Hotze[_3_]
September 23rd 11, 05:28 PM
Am 23.09.2011 17:37, schrieb vaughn:
> "Martin > wrote in message
> ...
>> Am 19.09.2011 21:20, schrieb Joe Herman:
>>> I'd save your $ and fly in the 152.
>>
>> but if you want to take yourself, your girlfriend and a small bag for a
>> weekend hideaway and if you want to top off and you are MSL and it is more
>> than 25 degrees warm than you want to go for the C172, I guess.
>
>
> Agreed, but that wasn't the question. For actual travel, the 172 is a far more
> capable airplane than the 152. For training, (assuming modestly-sized
> instructor& student) the 152 is fine.
well, W&B and oberall weight: just calculate what pilot +1 may weight
.... plus fuel ... calculate typical weather (has the OP mentioned the
location?) ...
> For local solo rental flying, I prefer
> the 152.
agreed, shooting holes in the air this is way cool. just like riding a
bike in the neighborhood. :-)
> Vaughn
#m
--
"What would I do with 72 virgins? That's not a reward,
that's a punishment. Give me two seasoned whores any day."
(Billy Connolly)
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