When shopping for an airplane, it can be beneficial to have bizarre tastes. For example, few people are in the market for a tiny, wooden taildragger with retractable gear and a side-by-side cabin nearly 10 inches narrower than a Mooney. Accordingly, when a Culver Cadet pops up in the classified ads, the asking prices are almost as small as the pool of likely buyers.
Conversely, when searching for a four-place airplane with a decent cruise speed, good useful load, capable of getting into and out of a wide variety of strips, and straightforward ownership and maintenance, one must get in line and prepare for painful asking prices. This was the conundrum faced by my friend Matt recently. His mission was all too common— take one or two friends on one- to three-hour trips, occasionally to grass strips, without having to deal with overly burdensome searching for parts or qualified maintenance.
