Cessna 177RG Cardinal

Lowflynjack

Lowflynjack

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Oct 28, 2014
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Jack Fleetwood
For those of you who don't know the story, the first time I took photos of @GaryV in his beautiful 177RG, he submitted one of the photos to Cessna Owner Organization for their calendar. They called me to make sure they had permission to use the photo and during the conversation, they hired me! I'm incredibly thankful to Gary for helping me get this great opportunity and proud to call him my friend.

Now, the magazine says they need photos of a 177RG for the October cover. Who do you think I called?! Gary came down to Taylor, TX and we got in an early morning shoot above the clouds. Had a great time and it's always good to visit with Gary.

Hope you enjoy.

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Been looking at Cardinals for some time now... FG but these shots just make me want one even more!

Great photos!
 
Really just a pretty airplane...well done
 
Very nice. Especially the one above the clouds. Been looking at Cardinal RGs recently. Thinking about selling the Tiger. Starting to have some issues getting off the wing with an Achilles problem. Getting up no issue, but concerned about the stretch when stepping off.
 
Great Pictures, I love the Cardinal so much, I have two of them. A 1968 FG purchased in 1990 and a 1973 RG just purchased this January and took it to Oshkosh.
 
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My favorite is the one above the sunlit cloud bank. Primo! A Cessna 177B #1 on my certified planes to purchase (and only).
 
I've seriously considered a Cardinal RG. Especially since you could find one with a run out engine and put a brand new Lycoming IO-390 in there.
 
I have never seen anyone put antennas right above the windshield like that
 
Rcmutz said:
Very nice. Especially the one above the clouds. Been looking at Cardinal RGs recently. Thinking about selling the Tiger. Starting to have some issues getting off the wing with an Achilles problem. Getting up no issue, but concerned about the stretch when stepping off.
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Most low wings suck, yer just finding out why.
 
Jack is so good at these air-to-air photos ... I've always loved the RG Cardinal, and if there hadn't been issues on the pre-buy it would've been an RG Cardinal instead of the Tiger for 10 years.
 
It's always been one of my favorites. If it didn't have the Rube Goldberg landing gear that all the high wing Cessna RGs have, I'd have it on my short list. It is a beautiful airplane and the pictures are top notch as always.
 
Thinking it would be sweet to put a turboprop on one...
and yes I'm privileged to have flown multiple Cardinals and weekly, too.
 
Great planes yes
.. You really need to get a through pre buy done. On 2 RG's I looked at they both had the main spar, seriously corroded. My A/P said "walk"... Buyer beware
I ended up with a super clean 182L. Family loves "Romeo".
 
Pilawt said:
Of which 1,164 were in one year -- the original 1968 150-hp C-177.

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Power issues in the 150hp models aside, for once, Cessna wasn't lying in an ad about comfort.

They really are like riding in a sedan, from the width to the way the seats sit and how good visibility above the panel is.
 
Way to go Jack.

You make the plane look beautiful.

If any of you get a chance to fly with Jack go for it. He’s a fantastic photographer, a fun guy to be around, and his photo pilot is so good he makes it easy for someone like me to fly formation with him.

I did spend a day cleaning the plane, including the bottom, but haven’t found anything that takes out the brown stain from the exhaust back. If anyone knows of anything that works, and won’t harm aluminum, I’d appreciate the info.

I think the Cardinal RG was a great choice for my wife and I. She likes to take trips in the plane and we plan on at least one trip of around 1500 miles each year along with frequent shorter trips. We’ll go to Nashville at least a few times each year (5 hours) for three day weekends and go to San Antonio (45 minutes) for lunch in the river walk at least a couple of times. You can go a long ways fairly cheaply at 165 mph and around 9.5 gph.

Gary
 
This one is a 74. I bought her from the original owner about 6 years ago.

It’s a great plane to take trips in and I’m blessed that flying in our plane is how my wife likes to travel. We can get to either coast in a day from the Houston area and have flow to both the Bahamas and Catalina island in the same year. In both cases we did the trip back from the coast in a day and my wife said it was fun.

We make a dozen or more trips someplace each year and try to make one of them at least 1500 miles one way.

Gary
 
Since y'all are talking Cardinals, what's the ceiling on value of a Cardinal RG? My BIL is looking at a nice example, and it is priced as such. What's the top of the market for these airplanes?
 
kyleb said:
Since y'all are talking Cardinals, what's the ceiling on value of a Cardinal RG? My BIL is looking at a nice example, and it is priced as such. What's the top of the market for these airplanes?
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It's a cult airplane, so the sky's the limit. I've seen people ask Saratoga money for the things (high 100s, low 200s). At the end of the day it's a high wing arrow by a different name, performance wise. Well, an ADA-compliant Arrow, to be more to the point :D
 
As always, nice job Jack. Always nice to see a pic here and then pick up a magazine later and think "I've seen this before."
 
kyleb said:
Since y'all are talking Cardinals, what's the ceiling on value of a Cardinal RG? My BIL is looking at a nice example, and it is priced as such. What's the top of the market for these airplanes?
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There's business demand for them, so it very much depends on who is looking and when, and what else is available on the market... We're about to get one of ours back with a new engine. Not cheap.
 
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