[edasmus]

In 12 years of ownership and 800+ hours of flying, I have never had significant landing gear issues. I am no where as near knowledgeable in the internal workings of the gear as Ernie and Herb but instead I pay people who are. Having someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to maintenance is the key. I wish I was an expert, but I am not and I don't pretend to be. Instead, I found an IA who remembers working on C337's when they were new. I pay for it, but it appears I'm getting what I pay for as I can honestly say in my SkyMaster experience, my heart rate has never been elevated while flying the airplane due to a maintenance issue.

When it comes to opinions on airplanes, unless someone has had long term flying and ownership experience, their opinion likely is not based on much. The SkyMaster, as any other 40+ year old high performance complex airplane is going to require a lot of maintenance. If that is done properly, as in all airplanes, likely the experience will be a good one. Costly but good!

Ed