Re: What would you buy with a 50k budget?

As you can see from the responses, opinions vary quite a bit.

Anyway, it comes down to how badly you want it and how much you are 
willing to risk going in with a limited budget. Sure, you can buy a 
cheap bird from Trade-a-Plane. Sure, you can buy something from before 
the Kennedy administration. It might fly around for a while, might not. 
Choose newer and/or well maintained (pricier) equipment and the risk 
tends to go down along with the unexpected "surprises".

You have got to be a little nuts to tackle flying in the first place. 
The arcane FAA rules, the weather, the instructors, scheduling, the 
cost. All formidable hurdles.

I've seen pilots like you from time to time. They get a license by 
overcoming all the obstacles only to say "now what" when they finally 
get their ticket. Renting is too limiting for some and the great leap of 
faith to owning seems insurmountable.

Too bad you cannot locate a club. It seems like a good fit for what you 
are trying to accomplish. Keep looking. Maybe a 3 way partner****p if you 
all want to get 80 or so hours a year out of it.

The other posters had some great points to consider also. Some even made 
their points without being too big of jerks in the process. Ah,
progress...

Good Luck,
Mike