Will Kumley
New member
Really just another thread of which plane to buy. 
Was actually curious if anyone actually purchases a DA-40 for personal use or are they only used as trainers? If nobody owns them- why not? Is it the wider than normal wingspan that limits hangar selection? The idea that the wingspan makes them float like a Cessna( only heard this from a pilot co-worker so I can't verify it)? Or is there another reason?
Looking at previous threads on ownership and which plane to buy yada yada yada.... the DA-40 doesn't seem to get mentioned much. My wife has hinted more and more about us buying a plane but I believe our ideas of mission are still a bit out of alignment. We have two kids, one in college and one in high school. She thinks the kids will want to fly with us forever but I'm more of a realist and think the kids will gladly just let us go on our own most of the time.
This makes me think a Warrior, Archer, Cherokee 180, 172 or even 182 would suit us well. Since she wants more space and possibly more useful load I'm thinking her ideal flying machine would be a 182 at a minimum in the Cessna world, possibly even a 206/210 or a Piper Six and might get away with a Cherokee 235.
Yes I know there are others like the Grumman AA-5 series, Super Viking, a few Beechcraft, and even the cramped Mooney.
She also likes easy entry exit which is partly why I was just curious on the DA-40. I'm more interested in a good platform that can get 2-3 adults from point A to point B on the regular, IFR rated so I can use it for IFR training to help me justify the purchase with myself. I think she is considering/mentioning this is because we have to reserve the local planes a few weeks out and more often than not we cancel due to weather. If we had our own it would be easy to see that the weather is good and just go.
She did see this yeas AOPA prize plane and was like- ooh, that's pretty we could have fun with that. Um, Vans are great and an RV-10 would likely fit the bill but I haven't seen a built RV-10 I would be able to currently afford and being active duty with the potential to move still building just isn't a current option for me.
Was actually curious if anyone actually purchases a DA-40 for personal use or are they only used as trainers? If nobody owns them- why not? Is it the wider than normal wingspan that limits hangar selection? The idea that the wingspan makes them float like a Cessna( only heard this from a pilot co-worker so I can't verify it)? Or is there another reason?
Looking at previous threads on ownership and which plane to buy yada yada yada.... the DA-40 doesn't seem to get mentioned much. My wife has hinted more and more about us buying a plane but I believe our ideas of mission are still a bit out of alignment. We have two kids, one in college and one in high school. She thinks the kids will want to fly with us forever but I'm more of a realist and think the kids will gladly just let us go on our own most of the time.
This makes me think a Warrior, Archer, Cherokee 180, 172 or even 182 would suit us well. Since she wants more space and possibly more useful load I'm thinking her ideal flying machine would be a 182 at a minimum in the Cessna world, possibly even a 206/210 or a Piper Six and might get away with a Cherokee 235.
Yes I know there are others like the Grumman AA-5 series, Super Viking, a few Beechcraft, and even the cramped Mooney.
She also likes easy entry exit which is partly why I was just curious on the DA-40. I'm more interested in a good platform that can get 2-3 adults from point A to point B on the regular, IFR rated so I can use it for IFR training to help me justify the purchase with myself. I think she is considering/mentioning this is because we have to reserve the local planes a few weeks out and more often than not we cancel due to weather. If we had our own it would be easy to see that the weather is good and just go.
She did see this yeas AOPA prize plane and was like- ooh, that's pretty we could have fun with that. Um, Vans are great and an RV-10 would likely fit the bill but I haven't seen a built RV-10 I would be able to currently afford and being active duty with the potential to move still building just isn't a current option for me.
