Simviation Forums

... Know about Maule aircraft? Its Based in Moultrie, Georgia, USA, near where I live, and I was wondering.
I've been hunting for a suitable trainer aircraft, and I want something other than the plain ol' Skyhawk (as Skyhawky as she may be!)
I want something that will turn heads.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance,
Ein

Well.......................................

how much money do you have to spend?

If you want to turn heads, maybe you could find some old F-104 Starfighter from Taiwan!

Well, me and my grandfather both want to learn how to fly, and we want something that gets the job done, but won't fry nuclear holes in our tender wallet O-zone layers.
A brand new straight from the factory Maule Orion is 180,000 dollars. Thats right in our price range.
Four seats
1500 fpm climb rate....
Big engine.
Sycanite body and metal wings...
almost a 90 gallon fuel capacity.... US gallons.
Perfect plane.... exactly what we need.
And its a STOL plane, with full flaps, one pilot and 1/2 fuel load, it takes off in under 800 feet.

For the more exotic stuff (and radial engines)
These turn heads and eat lots of fuel
[*]Yak-52 (or the tricycle version, Yak-52W)
[*]Yak-18T if you can get yout hands on one... seats 4

You might want to take a look at the Zenith CH 801 -> http://www.zenithair.com/stolch801/index1.html

Takes off in 290 ft!  :o and only costs $20,950. You have to put it together yourself though, and it doesnt look like anything special but well worth the money in my opinion.  :)

The Zenith is very nice, its extremely comparible to the Maule, except the Maule is factory built. That's very nice, especially since it has the same look and performance of the Maule for about the price of a used Cessna 152 from 1970 (at lease here in Georgia where people don't know the value of things  ;D)

Cheers,
Ein