Definitely agree about saying away from glass. There may come a time when most planes available have some sort of glass, but we are still a ways off, and the point is that "steam/round gauges" make a far better instrument pilot in my experience. Take two students, train one in glass, train one in round gauges. Then turn the tables and switch the airplanes on them. The glass guy keeps looking where the moving map used to be and can't figure out his position in "space". Now give an attitude indicator failure. I'm not making this up when I say that I've seen lots of "glass" trained pilots that would likely go out of control and die given an attitude failure in a "round dial" airplane. They were never taught or made to use timed turns. They didn't have to use compass turns. They were able to look at the GPS track and GPS map, and that's how they understand how to fly. The idea about where to scan most of the time is also completely lost in this transition, and it's compounded with an instrument failure. The structure of "how to fly" a round-gauge aircraft is not there and they struggle to control the aircraft, if not go out of control while flying instruments.

I don't think it works "both ways" at all. It's far easier to transition to and learn glass later, but if you don't learn "round gauges" you may do ridiculous things like fail your sim interview.

There's a big push to "get back to basics" from the FAA, but it's hard to really make that happen. I saw an article on Yahoo or something about an airplane that crashed after takeoff due to a possible spin, and a pilot made a comment of "always step on the ball!". No, you don't know that you're uncoordinated because you are looking at a "ball", you know you are uncoordinated because the FREAKING NOSE IS SLIDING LEFT (or whatever direction) relative to your total lift vector. This is something you feel and SEE. Unfortunately, it's not well understood.

There is something about the low wing that seems more badass. :-) Although one of those carbon Cubs at high wing and pretty sweet.

The Piper is cheaper overall, but they do have a lot more Cessnas. I believe they have 7 or 8 Cessnas. I guess that is something to think of as well. If the Pipers are out for maintenance I'm screwed. I doubt all Cessnas would be down at one time.

I want to be the best pilot I can be. I will strive to be proficient. That being said, stream gauges are my choice.

Thanks for the reply!

The best pilot you can be might not be good enough, but you do need to be proficient... Me, I just don't want to do anything stupid...

I promise I won't buzz the tower ;-)

I learned in Archers so I'm definitely partial to them.

What's the cheapest? Are they similarly equipped? I agree with steam gauges being better than glass at this stage in the game. You can always learn glass later.

As others have said, what is the likelihood you will be leaving this school and going somewhere else? 172's are more common than Archers.

Low wings are kind of nice in the traffic pattern because you can always have the runway in view, but I think archers are maybe slightly harder to land than a 172. I think the cockpit of the Archer is slightly roomier/more comfortable than the 172. High wings are nice if you want to do sightseeing, and the wing can give you some extra shade on a hot sunny day.

They are both fun to fly and solid trainers. Just pick one and stick with it until you finish private pilot. Once you take the checkride, get checked out in the other. With cessnas and pipers being the two most common trainers out there, it is worth being comfortable flying each by the time you get your commercial/CFI (assuming you are planning on doing this as a career).

Piper is cheaper, but not by much. They are both similarly equipped. It is very unlikely that I would be changing schools because 1) I live right next to it, and 2) since I'm going through a college curriculum for the training, I have to use a school approved by them. Frederick Flight Center and Advanced Helicopter Concepts are the only schools available within 50 miles of my house.

They used to have an approved school at Montgomery Airpark, but I don't know what happened. I think Montgomery County and PG County Airports are having issues due to being so close to D.C. and the restricted fly zones.

Frederick seems to on the outside of that bubble.

I definitely plan to get checked in both. I want to be a CFII so it is essential to be able to train in both.

Thanks for the advice!

Don't worry about training in one, and not being able to fly the other. It will take you a 1-2 hr checkout after you get your license to fly the other type(pending the flight schools insurance, program, etc....) It really isn't a big deal either way.

Cessna's land 'nicer' but drop a wing in stalls, pipers are easier in the patten for visibility, but you have to watch the fuel balance. Etc..etc..yadda yadda, I have flown and instructed in both types(1200hrs dual given), really just personal preferences here and there. It's really up to you on what fits you best.

I will agree on the two main points.

1. No glass cockpit. You have to crawl before you walk, and steam gauges are great! Less is more in basic training.

2. Price. They all get you to the same place, so spending more to get there does what exactly? Nothing!

Personally, another thing I would recommend for you is to get some exposure to some stall/spin training after you are at least 20hrs into your training. You need to see what happens in the scenario where you did everything wrong. I'm not saying you need a full blown aerobatics class, just 1-2 flights to really break down the various stages of a stall/spin and recovery.

I don't agree with this line of thinking at all. I find that students understand the concepts they learn in ground school much better if they can apply them in the airplane. Concepts and theory are really foreign to most students until they can get in the cockpit and see them at work. I always recommend students take ground/flight training concurrently for a better understanding and a more thorough grasp of the concepts. Visual learners pick up much faster with this method in my experience.

To each his own I guess.

I've flown Frederick Flight Center's archers (if they were the ones they had in 2009-2010). Good Airplanes . I also flew the G1000 Cessnas a few times when they would run the G1000 for the price of a normal 172 deals.

As far as MX, I was always impressed with how fast they got stuff done. When I was there I flew their only arrow and only seminole, and I think I had maybe one or two flights cancelled because of maintenance. The engines on the Seminole had to be overhauled like the week before my checkride, and I thought the plane would be down for weeks, and they just swapped engines from the factory or whatever, and had the plane back on the line with in a few days. A lot of other places I've flown planes have sat for weeks waiting on parts or whatever, it seemed like Frederick just paid to get stuff shipped in so they could get things up and running asaply.

EDIT: To add to the MX comment, I don't want to make it sound like they rushed through maintenance quickly at the expense of doing it properly. I always felt like they kept stuff well-maintained. Just they were efficient, and always tried their best to keep stuff online.