Whenever new pilots ask me to suggest a first airplane to learn to travel in, the Cessna 182 Skylane is always at the top of my list. My recommendation of the Skylane is especially strong for a pilot new to IFR flying.
Part of the reason I believe so firmly in the value of the 182 is that it was 33 years ago that I cut my IFR teeth, as it were, traveling the United States in a Skylane. Archie Trammell was editor of Flying’s then sister publication, Business & Commercial Aviation, and he and his wife, Jane, crisscrossed the country in a basic Skylane with nothing in the way of advanced avionics, and not even a wing-leveler autopilot.
