Sport Pilot Talk

Hi all!

New member here. I'm based out of Eugene, Oregon, and spend about a third of the year in Baja. I'm a private certificate holder, though I find myself flying LSA more often than not lately. My FBO of choice has a Cessna 162 and I've been using that as my Pacific NW cross-country plane for the past couple of years. It's a great little aircraft and just the right size for myself, my partner, 50lbs of stuff, and enough gas to get from bathroom stop to bathroom stop!

I've also started down the road to a CFI-Sport. I've got the hours required, and have started to get a handle on the right-seat flying. I'm planning to teach friends and family; doubt I'll do much with it professionally. Might help my insurance rates if I ever get an aircraft of my own, though! It's been a blast 're-learning' - maneuvers are simple enough...it's the explaining all of 'em while you're flying that's difficult!

My dream LSA is a Zenith 750 Wonder if they'll ever make the 750 in a S-LSA version??? If not, the 801 would do nicely. There's a lot of Idaho and Colorado backcountry that needs to be explored...

.......

Eugene and Baja...two beautiful areas to fly!

Regarding the Zenith 750: if that's what you want, why not build one or buy one already built? Do you not like Experimental planes?

Have you looked at the Just Highlander? Seems a perfect plane for your type of flying, assuming you are okay with a tailwheel airplane.

chavycha wrote:I've also started down the road to a CFI-Sport. I've got the hours required, and have started to get a handle on the right-seat flying. I'm planning to teach friends and family; doubt I'll do much with it professionally.

First of all, welcome. I've been flying a 162 for about 3 years now and I'm thinking about getting my CFI-S. I'd love to hear your experience with the process. Feel free to send me a PM or create a new post all together.

Flocker - I'll do that. When I have a few more minutes I'll add a post to the instructor section. So far so good!

MrMorden - I have no bias against experimentals. I'd go that route in an instant if I could legally instruct out of an E-LSA I owned. Unfortunately the FAA doesn't like that idea. As the S-LSA fleet matures, there are some decent deals starting to pop up ($50-75K range).

The S-LSA options with similar capability to a Zenith 750 (Highlander, Carbon Cub, etc.) are neat, but awfully pricey. I could buy a used S-LSA for instructing, a Zenith for my own flying, and still have a good $50K left over... or for that matter a used S-LSA and a nice Cessna 182...

I have a place at Gonzaga Bay, Baja, MX.
Can I ask where you hang out in Baja.

Scott, you say you want to train friends and family. You can certainly do that in an experimental. It's only instructing for hire that would require you to use either an SLSA or a standard category certified LSA.