IFR and cost and future plans

[Half Fast]

And, it makes me happy. For a huge, nearly back-breaking sum. Every time I think about selling the airplane the "void" of that ability to simply hop in and be 500 miles away in a few hours feels stifling. I don't often leave on a lark, but whenever I do, it's quite the liberating feeling.

Fortunately, I found that the price of my happiness is much, much less than the price of a complex retractable twin. Fixed gear, fixed prop, and one engine are plenty to put a smile on my face.

It's always a relatively easy adjustment to a new panel so long as it's not pure glass to pure steam,....

I dunno; I went glass to steam and the transition took about two minutes. I suspect going the other way would take longer.

FWIW, I like a steam 6-pack. Easier to read than glass, and it only takes a glance to see that the position of the needles is correct; no need to read and interpret numbers.

 

[Half Fast]

Time to start seeing is I can write off rental fees for business travel to my clients...

Careful. The FAA considers tax deductions to be compensation. (Stupid, yes, but FAA....)

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Fortunately, I found that the price of my happiness is much, much less than the price of a complex retractable twin. Fixed gear, fixed prop, and one engine are plenty to put a smile on my face.

You're one of the lucky ones. If I could, I'd have a whole dang hangar row filled with airplanes of various missions. But at the end of the day, with the ability to afford just half of one airplane, my #1 mission is to go places... And with a big lake very close by eating up nearly half the compass, I'd take a twin in a heartbeat if I could swing it... But I'll have to settle for a speedy single that I can operate for a cost per mile less than that of a 172. It does still make me smile.

I dunno; I went glass to steam and the transition took about two minutes. I suspect going the other way would take longer.

I think for most people, steam to glass is easier... *IF* you're good with tech and have some experience with similar avionics. For example, the buttonology on the GNS series navigators is exactly the same as the G1000 for the functions they share. Same for the GTN series and the G3000. After a couple hundred hours with a GNS430, getting into a G1000 aircraft was trivial.

However, I'm really glad I got all the training to build the picture in my head in a /U aircraft first, as that is not going to come naturally to most people, and glass pretty much just spoon feeds you the entire picture.

FWIW, I like a steam 6-pack. Easier to read than glass, and it only takes a glance to see that the position of the needles is correct; no need to read and interpret numbers.

One of vanishingly few advantages of steam. I do still tend to favor the steam altimeter over the one in my adjacent GI275 in certain situations.

 

[Steamflyer]

Thanks all.
I will talk with my club/school some more to see what reasonable costs will be going forward.
I'm not sure how they handle overnight rentals as the plans are all used for the school.
Maybe I need to find a true "club" that is not a school?
I'm just thinking of taking the wife to Martha's Vineyard for the weekend, flying to NH to kike for a couple days.
Up to Lake Placid to visit friends for a weekend. I'm not sure my current school/club will accommodate these types of trips.

Understood on the reno. Best to buy what I want now when I'm ready to buy... If I ever buy.

Buy a 182. Have done all those trips and it will suit you fine. Assumes you have somewhere to keep it which is an issue everywhere. In NE that means a hangar IMHO.

Insurance performance and maintenance are all somewhat reasonable (by aviation standard).

 

[midlifeflyer]

Time to start seeing is I can write off rental fees for business travel to my clients...

Careful. The FAA considers tax deductions to be compensation. (Stupid, yes, but FAA....)

What’s the problem? My clients paid a portion and I wrote off the rest. They never flew with me.

 

[Ryan F.]

I dunno; I went glass to steam and the transition took about two minutes. I suspect going the other way would take longer.

You’re not necessarily one of a kind, but that’s a unique perspective.

I see glass to steam all the time - it’s one of the common scenarios at some of the accelerated training academies. Client does all of their learning and flying in G1000 single engine airplanes, including lots of instrument flying, to be confronted a year or so later with a typical six-pack (including mechanical HSI) for their CFI-IA (“CFII”) add-on flight instructor rating. It’s a real challenge for many, especially since the HSI must be manually set, frequencies don’t auto identify, etc. but the biggest challenge is simply building a totally new scan based on mostly pneumatic instruments.

By contrast moving from steam-to-glass seems to be much easier for the majority of folks.

FWIW, I like a steam 6-pack. Easier to read than glass, and it only takes a glance to see that the position of the needles is correct; no need to read and interpret numbers.

Do what works for you!

 

[midlifeflyer]

By contrast moving from steam-to-glass seems to be much easier for the majority of folks.

I think there's a lot more variance in which seems more "intuitive" or which has a shallower transition learning curve than people realize.

 

[bflynn]

First, congratulations Captain.

Second, yes, it's lunacy.

Third, just do it.