carrellh is right. The prime requisite of a 2nd plane is that it
be rugged enough to survive the abuse it will get.

It also has to be aerobatic enough to hold your interest and
yet stable enough to keep you out of major trouble.

My favorite plane for this and the one I always recommend
is the Sig Midstar. This is a much better number 2 plane than
the often recommended 4 Star as it has none of the bad habits
the 4 Star is well known for. Its just as aerobatic as the 4 Star
but flies a little slower and has a slower roll rate.

This is a plane you can learn to FLY. Because you really
dont learn to fly with a trainer. You just learn how not
to crash.

As you might guess I had a Midstar for my 2nd plane and
I still have it 3 years later and still fly it. It survived many
bad landings and oopses.

Mike Hammer