The Avistar is a good plane, if you like it go with it. The LT 40 is a really REALLY popular plane too. The arfs are really well built and they fly incredibly well. Everyone except me at the club has one and they all fly the OS .52 4 stroke in it. I know both planes as I have taught guys to fly with both. The avistar seems to want to land a little faster than the LT 40 does but both are pretty nice in the air. The LT40 is an aerobat. I have seen guys do rolling circles, rollling loops and everything else but allout 3D with them. They will really tear up the sky. Id bet the Avistar will do the same with the right engine. But they are both also extremely docile trainers. Only thing more docile is a Kadet Senior but they get boring in a hurry if you are a fast learner and want to do more than just float around. I would have to say for a pure trainer the Kadet Senior is the absolute ultimate.