they are both good trainers. I would personally recommend the arrow for 2 reasons:
1) IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON MULTIENGINE TRAINING THE ARROW IS AN EXCELLENT TRANSITION INTO SOME OF THE MORE COMMONON TWINS(SENECA/SEMINOLE)-AS IT IS BASICALLY THE SAME MINUS THE OTHER ENGINE.
2) MOST OF YOUR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN IN CESSNA PRODUCTS AND EXPOSURE TO DIFFERENT EQUIPMENT AND A LOW WING AIRCRAFT IS VERY BENEFICIAL! I feel the systems set-up on the arrow, (like retractable gear,) are more more representative of of light twins than is the 172-rg.
I don't have any 172RG time, but I do have time in Cardinal (177) RGs and a bunch of time in Skylane RGs.
Both would be fine, six of one and half a dozen of another. Bigsky makes a good point that Arrows are closer to the light twins that you may fly eventually. In fact, a Seminole is very much a twin-engined Arrow. So, if you fly Arrows and know you will be flying Seminoles, you'll have an easy transition. But, it probably doesn't really matter. At ERAU we had students who went through the single-engine Commercial program in 172s and the retractable Skylanes. They added their multis in the Seminoles and did just fine.
Having flown and flight instructed in both aircraft, I prefer the C-172RG. Mainly because my students had previous Cessna 152,172 time and I found it to be an easier transition for them to the Cessna RG than the Arrow.
Both are fine training aircraft though.
Neither the Arrow or the C172RG are high performance aircraft. The Arrow has 200 HP, but you need MORE THAN 200 HP in order to qualify for the high performance signoff.
Looking at your experience I see that you haven't flown a piper yet. I'll agree with Bigsky. He has a good point about transistioning to a twin. It is also good to fly different kinds of airplanes. The transition to the Piper might be more difficult but, you will learn more about how different airplanes fly.
As far as putting the gear up in a Cessna 172RG because you're too low, that is a mistake. Putting the gear up in the C172RG initially adds drag and drops the gear lower.
Good luck. The Piper will be a nice change of pace for you.
After having been to 5 airline interviews, the ALL ask about Airplane Multi-Engine time!!!
If you're flying and airplane, that's good. If it's NOT MULTI, they don't care if it's a Meridian (single turbine, high performance), or it's a Piper Cub.
Save your money and fly a 152/172/Warrier/Mooney Cadet, etc. As far as the airlines go, they don't care. It's easy to get your high performance sign-off afterward, if you need it-one flight with a flight instructor and you're good to go.
The only SE time that will help is an F-16, or similiar SE fighter, and you can't afford the hourly cost for one of those!
Good luck with your aviation career. I'm proof that if you stick with it, good things can happen!
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