Looking into aviation lessons and buying an airplane to get around the ranch and get back and forth between my headquarters and the newly purchased north ranch which is 185 miles away. Anybody have any tips or advice? I’m thinking plane over helicopter but I’m open to suggestions.

I'm at about 40 hours fixed wing. Trying to get my hours as cheaply as possible.

i have two hours in the cessna 172. i would say im a "student pilot' but with those few hours you might as well call me a poverty pilot

wood recommend the C150/2 if just one other pax. C172 if 2-3 others.

look in to tail-draggers as well. not saying you would but a lot of dudes who do off-airport landing (like you might on your land) like those (keeps the prop high off the ground).

if you're uber concerned about safety and have some real money to throw around check out the Cirrus SR-20 because of the CAPS systems on them and all Cirrus a/c

personally, someday when i do get my PPL it'll either be that SR20 or a C172 which will run about $8,000-10,000 a year if you dont fly it one hour.

if really really considering it you might go ahead and look in to the MTOW, and Vr speeds just for the fuk of it, things like that.

neither the SR-20 or the 172 probably have this but also look in to the plane's de-icing. Not that you'll be flying a fuk ton of IFR (if any) but deicing boots can be a lifesaver when things go to chit if you get caught in the soup

if you go to buy just make damn sure it has fully functioning avionics, a working ADS-B and good mx records, especially when it comes to checking the magneto's. also look in to which one's prop you can feather for dat der thrust reversing if need be. probably other stuff worth looking in to as well.

OP do yourself a favor and price out all the schools near you, figure out what the actual wet/dry costs are to use their planes. Also you could look for "flight schools" where its just someone trying to justify the cost of owning a Cessna and a couple of independent CFIs trying to get their hours.

I can build my own runways, I have a dirt working and construction company, dozers/road graders/scrapers etc. so yeah yes and no about landing on strips. I figure budget for a plane is around $150,000 as it won’t make me any money so I can’t justify financing it so I’ll pay cash, will that buy something decent?

Bro I live 90 miles from the nearest wal mart, there’s only one school, such is my reasoning for getting a plane.

Yes it will buy something decent.

Consider renting a plane until you know how much you will use it.

You will find that travelling 150 miles by small plane is about as fast as by car once you account for all the time spent preflighting/postflighting/starting engines/taxiing etc. And the car will be much safer and less vulnerable to weather. As a starting pilot, you won't be able to fly in clouds, rain, night, high winds, etc. And your cargo will be very limited too. Long story short, small plane is not a convenient way to travel.

If you're trying to get something cheap and fun you can go experimental but there are hidden costs associated with that.

Something like this is exactly why I made this thread, thanks for the info.

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