Rookie from Brisbane Australia

[chris64]

I want to buy a plane. I want to enter into forums where I can find out what to look for and what to avoid.

 

 

[Yenn]

Welcome Chris.

 

you can find out a lot on this forum.

 

What sort of plane do you want to buy. What do you want to do with a plane and what experience do you have?

 

Answer those questions here and the replies will come thick and fast.

 

 

[chris64]

I want composite plane. Perhaps a long eze. I don't want to build it. I want to buy one that someone else has built. I want to learn about what to look for and what to avoid

 

 

[SSCBD]

I want composite plane. Perhaps a long eze. I don't want to build it. I want to buy one that someone else has built. I want to learn about what to look for and what to avoid

Hi Chris and welcome - what's your background in flying. How many hours in command - ratings etc. Why have you picked long eze?

 

 

[chris64]

I haven't chosen yet. That's why I want to learn. I don't even have a pilot's license yet. I still have lots of time to decide while I research airplanes. I just want to know where to start

 

 

[SSCBD]

OK Chris, might be an idea to get some flying in first and understand what is around. Lots of aircraft types that you may like better.

 

 

[Yenn]

Chris. To fly the long ezi you will need to get a GA licence, I don't think they can be RAAus registered. That means going to a GA flying school and doing the training. I would be very surprised if anyone would teach you on a Long ezi, so you ould probably fly a Cesna to get the licence, then you could think about buying your dream.

 

The alternative is to train with RAAus and go the ultralight way. Don't be put off by ultralight, there are a swag of very capab;e planes available to learn on and a lot of them are better than the Cessnas. By that I mean, they have better instrumentation, they are newer, cleaner and often even faster. They are also nicer in my opinion to fly. Thye Cessnas fly OK but they seem to be like a bus compared to some of the newer ultralights, which are like sports cars.

 

You are going to look at your options for learning and take it from there, unless all you want to do is own a plane and not be able to fly it.

 

 

[cscotthendry]

Chris:

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

For what it's worth, here's my 2 cents worth;

 

I second the idea of doing some flying before you choose what type of airplane to buy.

 

I would strongly dissuade you from buying any airplane just because you like the looks of it.

 

There are two main types of airplanes, High wing and Low wing. While you're doing some flying training, try to get some time in an example of each type and see what you prefer.

 

When you have decided whether to go high or low wing, do some looking around at planes for sale of that type and then come to the forums and ask some owners of the brands and or models that take your fancy, about their strengths and weaknesses. Be prepared to take their answers with a little grain of salt as everyone thinks their airplane is the best in the world.

 

When you have done some flying, start thinking about what you would like to use the plane for.

 

For example:

 

If you live on a farm with room enough for a short runway, you might want a plane with STOL capabilities.

 

If you have the travel bug and want to use the plane for flightseeing, you might want something with a reasonably high cruise speed. In that regard, most STOL planes are slower than planes optimised for cruising.

 

Again, if you want to go cruising, check out how much payload the plane can carry. The payload is the total weight of passengers, fuel and baggage. The payload weight of a given plane is the Maximum Take Off Weight specified for that plane (MTOW) minus the plane's Basic Empty Weight (BEW). For simple calculations, fuel weight 0.7Kg per litre. So if the plane has 100L fuel tank(s) then the maximum fuel weight will be 70Kg. This can be varied as it's not always mandatory to start with full tanks.

 

For example:

 

My Legend has a MTOW of 600Kg, a BEW of 313KG so my payload weight is 287Kg. Assuming the average person is 90 Kg, with two people in the plane that leaves me with 107 Kg for fuel and baggage. My plane has 130L fuel tanks which would weigh 91Kg if full, that leaves me with 16Kg for luggage ... BUT, my wife weighs significantly less than 90 KG (I'm not at liberty to say how much less!) so we have capacity for more luggage when we fly.

 

There is a lot more to buying a plane than just this and certainly a LOT more than just liking the looks of it.

 

Keep asking questions. The only "dumb" questions are the ones that didn't get asked.

 

Take your time, make a good choice and happy flying.