After all was said and done, the Hi-Max turned out to be the best mistake I ever made.
Like a lot of people, I started out wanting a two-seat airplane. Then I started looking at faster two-seat airplanes. Before long, I was thinking, “Well, four seats would be even cooler.” That is how it happens. You start by looking at something simple and realistic, like a Mini-Max, and somehow end up in a wild daydream chasing the next bigger, faster, more capable airplane.
A lot of people spend their whole lives that way. They never fly anything because there is always a “better” airplane just out of reach.
Eventually, if you want to fly, you have to make the decision to make it happen. Your first airplane does not have to be your dream airplane. It just has to be your starting point.
I bought my Hi-Max for $5,000. It flew, and more importantly, it got me into the air.
It was a good airplane to me because it was exactly what it was designed to be: minimum cost, maximum fun. For me, and for several other Mini-Max owners I know, it opened a door into a world that otherwise felt closed.
But the bigger thing my Max did for me was put me around other people who were flying, building, learning, and getting their licenses. These were people with airplanes of their own. People doing the thing, not just talking about it.
One of my best buddies appeared out of nowhere at the airport one day. He was an A&P mechanic, and he ended up teaching me a lot. Later, he told me he was really just hanging around at first because he was afraid I was going to get myself into trouble.
Eventually, he did some taxi runs in my Max. Before he knew it, he was a pilot again too. He had not flown anything in over a decade. Like so many people, he had spent years looking for that dream airplane while flying nothing.
It is sad how many people figure it out too late. The dream airplane finally starts to materialize right about the time they turn 80.
I never would have become a CFI or a commercial pilot without my Hi-Max.