Hello everyone, this is my first post. I have spent several hours with the search tool and decided to ask my own question.
I have been flying a sig kadet LT40 for 2 yrs now and have a several hrs flight time and "too many to count" touch and go landings in various wind and still conditions. I am very bored with it and am looking to acquire a second plane. I was seriously considering the GP cessna 182 but after reading other posts i am not sure i have enough runway to land it where i fly. So i am thinking about a .4-.6 size Extra or Cap or similar ARF. I have been using the G2 sim and have many hours of time with the cap and cessna as well as many other aircraft. The question is: With this limited amount of experience do you think i would have much trouble flying the Cap or Extra? Also, which model would you recommend of the type i have listed? Which have better landing characteristics? I will be flying off a dirt runway at 4500ft but i will eventually be flying off a paved surface at 2800 ft. Any advice or input would be appreciated.

thank you

rob

I think, with 2 years trainer time and a lot of Sim time, you should do fine with something fairly aerobatic. IF you keep the control throws low and get use to the plane before you kick them up.

I'd say a good Extra, something known to have good flight characteristics, would be okay.
Dennis-

What part of Idaho do you hale from? I think from how you described yourself that you would do fine with the planes mentioned. You can probably fly anything you want with reasonable throws, patience, etc. However, to me, without a doubt, the best second plane is a 60 size Ultra Stick. They don't look like much but are well constructed and are simply very fun to fly. They will land just as easy as your Kadet, really. And they will light up the sky when you want to. They are kinda like a Jeep. They will do it all. The best engine would be the Saito 100. I fly at 4800' and that's what I had on mine. Great fun.
Thanks,
Barry

You might want to take a look at the WM Cap 232. The posts say its the best Cap ARF out there right now.

The Magic extra 300 is pretty docile also, for a second plane. It has very low wing loading and on low rates is easy to land. It isn't very expensive either. I've had a couple of them. Just lots of fun to fly, inexpensive and you'll never get bored.[&o]

thanks for the input everyone. Anyone else?

Barry, i live in Meridian but i fly up in donnelly. Altitude sucks but the scenery is great. I will hopefully be heading your way to St. A dunes this summer. Do you ride?

depending on the size of your feild, the lancair is aerobatic, good looking, and fast, my buddy flies his, and can land it in pretty small spaces, and it has enough power to gett off the ground in a short distance. You may consider that as an option, because its like flying a low wing aerobatic trainer, its stable, yet agile.

My situation's a little different. I got bored with my simulator and haven't used in for over a year.

The Extra or Cap vs. the Skylane are Ferraris vs. Ford pickups. Plenty different birds.

If you're not totally sure, get a cheap airframe and a nice engine and move it into the third plane when you know better where you're headed. Everyone needs a "clunker" sport plane anyway. Fun flies, ski plane, etc., etc. Any of the stick (Ultra/Ugly/Big/etc., etc.) clones with the upper recommended engine is a good choice for a second plane in competent hands. They are fun to fly and rugged. Put a .70 4-stroke in a .40 size stick variety and it's even more enjoyable. I had a GP Big Stik with an OS 70 and it was my most flown plane . . . until a freak midair collision that broke both wing bolts at 300 ft. That crash was so hard I got dirt in the transmitter. I had converted that plane to a tail-dragger and it was a joy to fly. We didn't find the wing for two weeks - it just twirled away gracefully.

I fly grass field, and I see scale planes take landing gear damage from rough terrain that the sport planes shrug off. I have an SK/50 from Kangke that I recommend highly if you are leaning towards a realistic/scale flight as opposed to a 3-D/Extra wild aerobics. It has a pretty high wing loading (& tapered wings), and you'd have to prop it right for a torque roll (if you're into such things) but it has an over size rudder and lots of control throw to help. It is a sweet flier and would be a good practice pattern plane (I can do axial rolls with the differential aileron set).

The Big Stik had much better low speed handling. The SK 50 comes in a little hot unless you pattern your landing carefully and bleed off height and speed before the final. But you won't outgrow it in a season.

You'll be fine with just about anything listed above. Just fly easy till you get the hang of a fully semitrical slim airfoiled wing. They land a bit faster in general but all in all after 2 years you should be able to handle them with no problem.

Thanks everyone for the input. After much reading and surfing thru the forums i decided to purchase the VF edge 540. I beleive, based on many posts, that i will have minimal problems flying this plane. I am optomistic that i will have a lot of fun with it. This site is great. I would never have known about this plane(VF edge) or any of the flight characteristics of some of the planes i was considering. It has been an invaluable source of information in determining what is out there and how they fly.

thanks again everyone.
Robbin