What sort of planes can a child fly?

I remember back in the 80's there was a 10-year old or somesuch who flew across the country. I think that was in a Piper Six or something similar.

A lot of the Cessna planes (172, 182) would be suitable for (relatively) short flights by someone who's a young adult. A Piper Six or Cherokee would be a little larger, but still within reach of a private pilot. You can go to aopa.org for pilot info, faa.gov for rules and regulations, cessna.com for their planes.

Another thing you might want to do is try a good flight simulator if you have the computer for it, MS Flight simulator is pretty decent.

You can probably get pilot-study books at the local library as well, there are a TON of regulations pertaining to flight and where you can go, and how, etc.

With the post 9/11 climate as well, you pretty much have to file and follow a flight plan for every flight, unless you're just doing takeoffs and landings around an airport.

You can PM me if you'd like, I'd be happy to answer more questions if you have them.

Well, I started flying about 4 years ago, when I was 14, so I suppose I'd qualify as having personal experience with this.

That said, I flew the following:

Ford Tripacer (1950's era)
Piper Cherokee (2 seperate)
Piper Warrior
Cessna 172
Cessna 152

As for how long the flights were, anywhere between one and three hours were the norm, since they were lessons mainly. Additionally, I've got a copy of the FAA pilots manual, a Piper Warrior manual, and quite a bit of other stuff laying around back home I could look into. The only prolbem is, I'm -not- home, and instead at my dorm room at Gettysburg, so I can't get to them readily without a good day's driving or so.

A list of planes that a kid could fly would be exhaustive - it's really pretty easy to do.

If you're looking for a plane that a kid could take lessons in, there are a few models that are quite popular (and still in production):

Cessna 172
Piper Warrior
Diamond DA-40

There are also plenty of older planes that aren't in production anymore that would do. The Cessna 152, various types of Piper Cherokees (there are a bunch - Archer, Warrior, Cadet), Piper Tomahawk, etc. Look for one with 200 or less horsepower and without retractable landing gear, and it'll suffice. Not to say that people don't get their licenses in such airplanes (the Cessna 182 and some other Cherokees like the Arrow and Cherokee Six fall into this category), but it's less common. For just having fun, a multi-engine plane is fine, but serious training isn't done in those planes until later on.

I should add that Parien's statement about flight plans isn't really accurate - you can still fly from one side of the country to the other and not have to file a single flight plan, nor talk to a single ATC controller (provided you stay away from the busier airports).

PM me if you want more information.

I should add that the legal age to fly a plane by yourself is 16. At that point, you have to be signed off by an instructor to do anything on your own. Want to practice landings at an airport in a certain type of airplane? Need an endorsement for that. In a different type of airplane? Need another endorsement for that. Want to go from airport A to airport B? Need another endorsement for that. Want to go from airport A to airport B again a week later? Need another endorsement for that. Want to fly into one of several designated crowded ("Class B" in pilot-speak) airspaces around the country? Yet another endorsement.

Once you turn 17, you can get a private license, and then you can fly around all you like without those endorsements, however some restrictions do apply - you can't fly for hire and you can't fly into bad weather unless you have an instrument rating.

When you're younger than 16, you can fly around all you want if there's a qualified pilot at the controls with you. You're not allowed to fly by yourself. But does it happen out in the middle of nowhere where nobody is paying attention? Probably. It would kept quiet though.

A listing of small aircraft currently up for sale can be found at http://www.trade-a-plane.com/index.html

Realistically, even the child of a rich family probably wouldn't fly anything other than a single engine lower horsepower (say, 180hp or less), fixed gear airplane. For whatever reason, I know two kids who got Cessna 140s when they were teenagers. Then again, I met a girl, 18, who had her rich uncle buy her an Extra 300S and her own aerobatic coach. Seemed a nice and mature enough kid despite that, though :)

On the "normal mortal" side of the equation, the time honored way young people without the luck of family money get started flying is by pumping gas, washing planes, cleaning hangars, etc in exchange for a bit of flight time. At the glider port I worked at, a number of the line boys were flying airplanes before they were 20--a couple were even giving commercial glider rides (glider solo is a bit earlier than power, btw. I think its 16).

In the bush, all bets are off. North of Anchorage, it's pretty hard to find FAA folks from what I understand (don't misunderstand me, I've got less than 1 month of flying around that area). I could see your hero flying the family SuperCub around from when his feet could make it to the rudder pedals.

I used to be a flight instructor, and I signed off two sixteen year olds for their first solo flights--one in a Cessna 152 (two-seater), one in a Cessna 172 (similar high-wing four-seater). Other easy single-engine planes include the famous Piper Cub (which has been around forever, and is one of the first planes available to the public. It is a high-wing, tail-wheel aircraft with tandem seating as opposed to side-to-side--also there is the Supercub), also the Piper Cherokee, the newer Diamond Katana and Diamond Eclipse, the Beechcraft Musketeer, the Aeronca Champ, and the Aviat Husky (those last two are similar to the Cub--tailwheels, slightly harder to fly, but do-able for a good student, even a teen). Also, there are a surprising number of people in the world who make their own light aircraft (called 'homebuilts'), sometimes from scratch, sometimes from kits.

If you want airplane pictures, the definitive site is www.airliners.net, where you can search by manufacturer and model. There are over a million aviation pictures there.