Search Results for: Cessna 172

The landing gear actuator (p/n 95-810017-23) and motor assembly was removed and replaced with an overhauled unit. While rigging and when gear was extended, the actuator and motor made a slow, deep, grinding noise. Upon inspection, a washer (p/n 105090cr032-4e) was missing. Further investigation revealed the washer was misplaced between the gear actuator housing and spur and pinion gear. The maintenance manual narrative omits installing the washer, though the illustrated parts catalog depicts the washers installation correctly.

While driving back the other day after a particularly challenging horse jump lesson, I realized there are many similarities between horseback riding and flying. It reminded me that – as with any sport – I need to walk before I run. There is a progression of skill, and nothing but experience can advance me to […]

It is no wonder Cessna called the revolutionary tricycle landing gear Land-O-Matic when the company introduced it on the Cessna 172 in 1956. Tricycle equipped airplanes are simply easier to land. But that doesn’t mean that tailwheel aircraft are not worth flying. With the increased nose up angle of the fuselage, the propeller is further […]

It’s the end of an era. Golf legend Arnold Palmer has made his final flight as pilot in command, calling it quits after almost 55 years at the controls of everything from open-cockpit biplanes to a Boeing 747. Along the way, he amassed nearly 20,000 hours in the cockpit. Palmer, 81, flew his Cessna Citation […]

Miscellaneous AircraftRandolph Tank Sealing CompoundWhile an unspecified aircraft was undergoing renovation, a steel fuel tank was sealed using a Randolph Aircraft Products sloshing compound.

One of the reasons people become pilots is we like the idea of going fast. As children with a Radio Flyer wagon at the top of a hill, we learn very early going fast can be fun but also has some associated dangers, usually summarized as “going too fast.” Even though were older, presumably wiser and flying what might be the latest airframe with all the whiz-bang gadgetry in it we can afford, theres still such a thing as going too fast. Once the aircraft leaves the surface, using visual cues to determine the speed at which we are moving through the air isnt possible. Even while on the runway, if there is any surface wind, pilots know airspeed can be substantially different than the speed we appear to be moving.

The FAA rightly has taken its lumps on many things, leading to a healthy dose of skepticism among many in the industry whenever the agency tries something new. This is especially true whenever theres a rulemaking activity affecting general aviation training. I knew this, of course, when I began work as manager of the FAAs General Aviation and Commercial Division. After a few months in my new job, I began surveying the landscape, which included the Garmin 430 phenomenon (I installed one in my Bonanza, as well as a multifunction display and weather data link) and a visit to Cirrus highlighted the coming “glass cockpit” revolution.

While at the 2010 NBAA convention, I stopped by the booth of Stratos Aircraft to check up on the progress the company was making with its eponymous single-engine jet. What I discovered was pretty much exactly what I expected to discover. The company was exceedingly optimistic about the prospects for its jet while admitting there […]

Chris Esposito is co-founder of First Landings Aviation, a central Florida sport pilot flight school, and holds both CFI-ASEL and CFI/CFII-H ratings. Chris has given more than 1,200 hours of flight instruction, 600 of which have been in light-sport aircraft. “Flying both the PiperSport and Remos, two fairly well-known light-sport aircraft, I am often approached […]

The opening line of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” is an apropos description of today’s used-airplane market. For buyers these are great times to be in the hunt for an airplane that’s gotten some gentle use and good care. But for […]