Tom-D
Taxi to Parking
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Tom-D
They are a lot of fun.
Blacksburg meets is a great place durning the meet, and there are others.
antiqueairfield
Plane to Buy - Long Term Planning
- Thread starter WDD
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Blacksburg meets is a great place durning the meet, and there are others.
antiqueairfield
You did not mention fuel economy, or the lack thereof, and you didn't mention higher altitudes, so I am guessing most of your flying is east of the Rockies. You did mention 2750 ft grass strip so I am guessing you have a strip in mind, but you are not that interested in grass other than that one strip. There are a lot of grass strips in the 2000 +/- foot range. Do you want to include them?
The fixed gear Piper Indians have gas cushioned struts and if properly maintained work well on grass. The low center of gravity and wide wheel stance makes them stable on uneven terrain and high crosswinds. I would consider any of the 180s or the 235s. The Cherokee 140 I owned had a very forgiving wing near the stall but was lacking in power on warm days, and doesn't cruise fast enough.
If you really want sit up seating consider a Navion. Lots of room, comfortable, capable, available, and tall in the saddle.
Just a thought
The fixed gear Piper Indians have gas cushioned struts and if properly maintained work well on grass. The low center of gravity and wide wheel stance makes them stable on uneven terrain and high crosswinds. I would consider any of the 180s or the 235s. The Cherokee 140 I owned had a very forgiving wing near the stall but was lacking in power on warm days, and doesn't cruise fast enough.
If you really want sit up seating consider a Navion. Lots of room, comfortable, capable, available, and tall in the saddle.
Just a thought
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
Bringing this back from the dead. I'm seeing some nice Cardinal RG's for a bit over $100k, but the 182's look to still be around $150 for one that doesn't need a lot of work. The retract insurance is stiff, and the risk of costly gear maintenance is there, but that $30 to $40k difference can cover a lot of things. Let's see in another 6 months or a year I guess.
Ed Haywood
En-Route
Missed this wisdom the first time around. x10. I am doing a bare frame restoration on my Decathlon. Such a huge plus to be able to call the ACA factory and get parts. Plus tech support, continuing publication of service letters for issues, and kits for design upgrades.
Ed Haywood
En-Route
Justin Brady
Pre-takeoff checklist
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SONIC
Necro thread but my advice is try to find the plane with the avionics you want.
With your preference list you're looking at a panel that costs as much as a plane, if you can find one that someone else has already done the work to you'll come out ahead.
Seems like they days people are getting 75-90% of their panel cost back (depending on how recent the work was done), up from back in the day when it was 50% or less.
but still 80-90% is better than paying the full price if you can avoid it.
With your preference list you're looking at a panel that costs as much as a plane, if you can find one that someone else has already done the work to you'll come out ahead.
Seems like they days people are getting 75-90% of their panel cost back (depending on how recent the work was done), up from back in the day when it was 50% or less.
but still 80-90% is better than paying the full price if you can avoid it.
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
NordicDave said: ↑
I'm biased towards aircraft still in production. Easier to obtain new parts as an option.
That is a good point. Does that apply to an 1977 version of a 182 vs a 2020?
Today a 182 is a bit more painful than a Cardinal RG.
I'm biased towards aircraft still in production. Easier to obtain new parts as an option.
That is a good point. Does that apply to an 1977 version of a 182 vs a 2020?
Painful But not substantially different
Today a 182 is a bit more painful than a Cardinal RG.
I would much rather seek out the best airframe you can find than worry about what is in the panel. The panel can be much more easily fixed than trying to find parts that may be unobtainable or close to it.
Just a mechanic's point of view, who maintains some very obscure aircraft and who has seen far too many nightmares come about when people focus on superficial things such as paint, avionics, and engine times.
Ed Haywood
En-Route
Dunno about parts commonality between a 182Q and a 182T, or how the variants are addressed on the TC and specifications.
With the 8KCAB it is a bit simpler, since there is only one variant. They have made significant design changes, such as wood to metal spars, but everything is covered under a single TC and so there is a lot of flexibility in forward updates (and presumably backwards ones, if so inclined).
NordicDave
En-Route
Cessna still supports the the legacy 182 fleet. I've called Cessna support a few times for advice and they were very helpful. The restart airframes tremendously overlap the early models. I've purchased a good deal of parts for my 182P where the old part number is superseded to the current part number for the 182T model.