Rock on! Now thats what it all about! I Love acronyms and am always looking for new names for planes...that one will be added to my list.
Tough Ugly Resilient Delight

Getting back to the Dura-Plane. It's heavy. It lands hot. But it flies and gets the job done, and comes back for more. I've seen an awefull lot of new pilots show up at the field with an awefull lot of different types of trainers over the last 26 years. I've also seen an awefull lot of wreckage piles and guys never coming back. I wish I would have kept records. Because the percentage of guys sticking with it and having a ball and making it to solo and beyond seems to be higher with the Dura-plane/Aircore/Sturdy Birdy/Armidillo type crowd. I'm talking percentage, NOT total numbers. I see more Avistars, Alpha and Tiger trainers than anything (besides Spads) ...but every now and then a toughy shows up. These seem to be the guys that want to fly, screw what it looks like, lets get airborn NOW and get it figured out yesterday pilots. It's also incredable how much quicker the learning curve is when a pilot with the right aptitude begins with a toughy.