I'm purchasing my first airplane soon and I'm looking for a stable airplane or trainer which I will not loose interest in too quickly. Basically a plane which is easy to control but on the edge of being a sport.

I've been looking at the SIG Kadet Senior and throwing an OS .46 or .50 engine on.

I will have an instructor to assist with my piloting skills

Any suggestions on other planes I might consider ???

I have a Sig Kadet LT-40 with a Supertigre 45 on it. It has ailerons which will enable you to move on to more sporty planes later on. It is also slightly smaller than the senior, which with the same size engine you may get "bored" with. I am very happy with the plane. It was very easy and fun to build ( mine was a kit ), it makes it easy to learn to fly (with your instructor of course ) and once you learn the basics you can turn up the throws a bit and it will do most aerobatic maneuvers you can throw at it. Well, some maneuvers are a bit lazy, due to the flat wing, but hey, its a trainer, can't expect too much

Have fun!

Just like ZachK I have an LT-40 but I've got an Enya .40 engine. I had to put a slightly larger prop on it to slow it down but it handles very nicely. I had an instructor with an LT-40 so the switch to my own plane was seamless.

I wish you all the best and good luck!

If you want to build a kit to start, I'd recommend the LT-25. Flies at least as well as a LT-40, easier to transport. Flies great with a LA40 and is a tail dragger. If you have an instructor, you might take out some of the di-hedral and have a reasonably aerobatic ship.

If I'm not mistaken, the Senior is a three channel plane. (No ailerons.) In any event, the Seniors are known to be very docile, and may get boring pretty quickly. They're the type of plane you bring to the filed on a very calm afternoon, when you feel like flying high lazy circles.

Go with the LT 40, or one of the other new trainers.
Dennis-

I sure like my Avistar.. with a 46 FX it flies fast when I want it to, slow when needed.. And the semi-symmetric wing allows some fun non-trainer stuff, like inverted flight without breaking the elevator-down stick, nice slow rolls, etc. It's a great plane.

The Kaydet Senior kit comes without ailerons and is 78 inch wingspan. The Kaydet Senior ARF is eighy inchs and comes with ailerons as well as less dihedral.

The Kaydet Senior in my avitar is over eighteen years old and I am not bored with it.

By the way a Senior with ailerons makes just about one the finest flying float planes possible and a superb night flyer as well. Life is not all 3D.


John

I had an RCM Trainer 40 with a Thunder Tiger .46 Pro on it. It was a snotty trainer in comparison to the others at our club. She would fly inverted, which was beyond most of the others. A .46 in the Avistar is a good "hot" trainer, also.

Mine might still be flying if I hadn't got kocky and tried to fly it in the spring from a short field (a boat launching ramp) in gusty winds - with the rudder trim having accidently been shoved full left. Took my eyes off her to reset the trim adjustment and looked up in time to see a smoking hole. *sigh*

Tip #17: If it acts squirrely on the ground it won't get any better in the air.