I am now a rusty pilot, but wanting to get back into flying, and have started looking at Trade-A-Plane a little too much. lol.

I owned a Sport from about 1994-2003. I bought it shortly after I had soled (in a Warrior) but before my PPL checkride, and eventually did my instrument training in it.

That plane was great when I was single, but the 601 lb useful load became an issue after I got married.

When I sold it, I told my self that "someday" I would own again. Hoping "someday" is finally getting close.

I started mainly looking at Sundowners. Then realized the prices for Sierras are pretty much the same as the Sundowners.

Called insurance today for a couple quotes. $2100/yr for Sundowner and $3900 for Sierra. I only have about 30 hours of retract time, all in an Arrow. They did say once I got to about 130 hours retract time, it would go down some.

Then I noticed some higher time Bonanza/Debonairs are in the same price range as the higher priced Sundowners and Sierras. Ugh "plane creep". We'll see how it goes.

Welcome Paul. I think you will find that you can buy some flavor of 33/35 with a 470 engine for a similar investment as a decent baby beech. And with the bonanza, the parts availability will be better especially as regards used parts and aftermarket parts.

Have you gotten a hanger lined up? Where are you located? We were based at Lacon for 20 years.

Jeff,

Thank you for the welcome. Closest airport is Springfield, but I am also not too far from Jacksonville. I made some calls in November and sounds like there is some availability in the area. I may have to take a larger/more expensive hangar than I really want/need. But I suppose that is not all bad. Of course, everywhere needs for me to have an airplane before I can sign the lease.

Your comments regarding the 33/35 duly noted.

Welcome to Beechtalk and welcome back to airplane shopping. I’m at based at LL45 in Gillespie and also spend some time at Litchfield.

I’ve got a F33A, Twin Bonanza and a C90. I thoroughly understand airplane shopping creep.

that's good news. IMO if a hangar is available now, go ahead and sign a lease on it. The last thing you want is to find the perfect plane and not have somewhere dry and safe to put it.

Jeff,
The problem I’ve run into is the hangar lessor requires that you own the plane you want the hangar for before they offer a lease. Creates a catch-22 unfortunately.

William,

That is exactly the "catch-22" that I have run into. Almost every airport within driving distance has accepted FAA grants with a stipulation that hangars only be leased when airworthy airplanes are hangared in them.

TBH, I am somewhat considering buying something "cheap" like a Luscombe, Ercoupe, 150, etc. to use as a "hangar holder" until I find the airplane I really want.

Then sell the cheap one when I buy the "right" one. A small downside of that though is sales taxes on the "hangar holder". Welcome to Illinois?

Welcome to Beechtalk. I am also in central Illinois and keep my Bonanza at 3MY in Peoria.