As a CE and FE in the army ng, I found your post very full of information. Very easy to understand... It was a good read! I’m thinking about getting back into aviation. Thanks.
I have always loved getting my feet off the ground. As a kid I kept jumping off higher and higher structures and out of trees. My brother and I consrtucted huge kites and tried to tow each other aloft behind the tractor. I finally did get a respectable hang glider and then better hang gliders. Then I got an ultralight aircraft and then finally general aviation aircraft.
When you do not have an airplane any airplane will do. But now that I am older I do appreciate a very safe and simple to fly airplane. We have taken our Cherokee into some very challenging airports, a lot of people will not fly into the field that we live on. Because of its close proximity to hilly terrain we sometimes get some extreme bounciness that scares the beegeebies out of people not acustomed hitting turbulance on final.
My neighbor bought a souped up highly modified super fast Moonie for $200,000; he had a couple of scary landings and never flew it again. Before that he had a Warrier that he flew in and out of here all the time. I went for a ride with him in the Mooney, he skimmed the treetops, had full flaps and his “aibrakes” deployed and we had still used up half the runway before he had all three wheels on the ground.
I actually was not even looking for a Cherokee when we found the one that we have owned for approximately the last 30 years. We had been looking for two years; my wife put her foot down and said that it was the plane that she wanted.
I hope you are able to get back into aviation. Good luck!