I flew the 71 when I first got here, and I'm glad I did. Excellent introduction to the islands, and great practice hand flying. You won't get that on the widebodies...but you better have the hand flying skills down before moving to the widebodies. You probably won't get the chance to develop those skills in an airplane where most of the flying is strait and level for hours on end, and where only a few minutes on either end are hand flown. You may only get four landings a month....experience builds slowly. Yet stick skills are very necessary.....