Sport Pilot Talk

n16ht5 · Joined: 19 Jul 2010 Posts: 1 Location: seattle

Hello, I am in planning to be a pilot within the next year or so, and looking on where to start.

I want to fly and start shooting aerial photography part time. I don't have a lot of extra money, so I was looking at sport pilot license. I am frustrated at the stingy requirements on the planes though.... no old cessna 152, which is what I would like to get... ridiculous. Since I just wanted to shoot photos, I don't intend to fly a night or in the soup, but the only LSA are too much money for me. I want to keep the plane cost under 30k, and to something cheap to maintain and run ( I know, yeah right). Maybe I should wait longer till I have more money and get a PPL? Is there a cheap LSA? Ercoupe? Should I forget it all for now and get an ultralight trike? I could probably get a used northwing trike for 10-12k?... and a good life insurance policy? I live in the country on acreage so I could take off behind my house in a trike and use mogas, which would be cheap. Is there a good plane classified site? Barnstormers doesn't have much. Please offer insight for a young guy, Thank you

Chris[/quote]

ArionAv8or · Joined: 20 Mar 2010 Posts: 271

Welcome to the boards.

Well if you have read many of the threads here I am sure you have seen lots of information surrounding the Ercoupe. My first plane was a 1946 Ercoupe 415C and it falls within the LSA parameters for Sport Pilots. It is a great plane, very economical to fly at 5.0 gph and would be fantastic for aerial photography. Given the fact that low and slow would be ideal for photos don't forget you can fly with the windows down so there is no canopy to get in your way. I sold my Ercoupe for 28K and it was pretty well decked out with a new Airtex interior, bubble windshield, Garmin 250XL, etc... The planes are out there but the good ones sell pretty quick. If you are looking to spend around 30K you can get into a really nice one.

There is a lot of great information here on the boards with a lot of very knowledgable pilots. If you have any questions surrounding the Ercoupes feel free to PM me.