Search Results for: Cessna 172

Several years ago, two active-duty Air Force pilots (one an instructor) rented a Cessna 172 in Del Rio, Texas, so they could take their dates for a flight. The two pilots sat up front with two passengers in the back seat and a heavy load of fuel in the wings. (In case youre thinking ahead, the aircraft was 323 pounds over its maximum allowable gross weight and 3.1 inches beyond its allowable aft C.G. limit.)

They took off and proceeded to perform aerobatic maneuvers at very low altitudes while also buzzing boats on the nearby lake. They performed at least one complete aileron roll, abrupt pull-ups, very abrupt level-offs at low altitude and hammerhead type turns.

The last maneuver w…

As a 3,000-hour pilot with a CFII rating, I am reasonably comfortable in the cockpit in either the right or left side. However, when I havent flown in a while I like to go out and fly by myself and run through some maneuvers as well as get in some short- and soft-field takeoffs and landings before I take passengers.

One day in the early summer I found myself in a situation where I needed to fly my wife from Portland, Ore., to Spokane, Wash., on a Sunday. I had not flown our Cessna 172 for about four months, so on the Saturday before I decided to go out and knock off some of the rust and enjoy the kind of sunny day that we here in Oregon hope makes up for living in the rain the other eigh…

Over the course of a pilots career, a glance backward in the logbook will show more than a snapshot of the pilots experience. It will also show the attitude the pilot has toward flying. A logbook filled with nothing but hours in a Cessna 172 reflects a very different pilot than one who has only a few hours in a variety of seaplanes, aerobatic planes, piston twins and a double handful of high performance single engine models.

Thats not to say one is necessarily better than the other, because each pilot has learned some essential lessons that have escaped the other.

After four years of owning and flying a Mooney 201 exclusively, I have spent the last two years flying a variety of airp…

The following information is derived from the FAAs Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts.

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Witnesses in the airport traffic pattern heard the pilot of a Cessna 172M announce on the radio that he had lost all aileron control.

The airplane crashed, and while investigating the accident, an NTSB investigator discovered that two flight control cables were broken. He found that the left aileron control cable separated in the area of the top pulley located at the right doorpost. The cable was severely frayed for several inches on each side of the failure point and there was evidence of heavy corrosion on the cable and inside the pulley track.

When the pu…

Its every motorists nightmare, breaking down in an Audi in a rural town where the only mechanic knows only tractors, Fords and Chevys.

Surely, pilots reason, the same thing cant happen to airplanes. The technology is usually more familiar and the mechanics are more worldly. Besides, the FAA makes sure mechanics know how to fix airplanes, right?

If you believe that, youd better stick to a factory-standard 1978 Cessna 172.

The fact is that modifications done to airplanes through supplemental type certificates and even Form 337s can give mechanics headaches. Although the vast majority are straightforward installations that are intuitive to remove, service and replace, there are en…

Freed at last from the tyranny of enhanced Class B airspace, the VFR-only Citabria virtually leaped into the sky despite a load that was nearly at max gross weight.

We reached 500 feet well before the Cessna 172 that had taken off from runway 7 in front of us and we were cleared to make an early left turn for a northwest departure. This was a far cry from the almost iron-fisted display of IFR flying that had been the order of the day for nearly six weeks, adding to the sense of freedom. Tapping into the karma, I slowed the airplane and opened the window. Noisy, yeah, but worth it.

Once clear of the ECB, I we undertook some moderately aggressive aerobatics. My passenger, also a pilot,…

Last week I was scheduled for my second solo flight, and I arrived at the airport (a controlled, class D field) ready and willing. It had been a rainy day up until that point, but the weather had broken, and it was now clear VFR with 10 miles of visibility and a scattered layer at about 6,500.

It was 4:00 pm, and I figured that I could get in at least a good hour before sunset. My first solo the day before had gone splendidly and I was feeling confident in my abilities to go up and do it again. I got my weather briefing, preflighted the aircraft, a 1998 Cessna 172R, and was all ready to start her up when I was interrupted.

My instructor, who had been in the pattern with another studen…

The following briefs were selected from the 130 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in October 2001. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed.

Oct. 01, Lindsay, Mont.
Cessna Skyhawk
At about 17:00 mountain time, a Cessna 172 crashed into terrain while in cruise flight near Lindsay. The pilot, who was seriously injured, had opened a VFR flight plan about 35 minutes earlier. The aircraft was in cruise flight at 300 feet agl when the pilot was distracted by tuning a radio.

Oct. 02, Hudson, N.H.
Beech C-45H (Military Twin Beech)
At about 13:10 easter…

The following briefs were selected from the 121 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in December 2001. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed.

Nov. 02, Argyle, N.Y.
Cessna Skyhawk
At about 14:10 eastern time, a Cessna 172D crashed while returning to land at Argyle Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said the oil access door popped open shortly after takeoff when he was at about 150 feet agl. He decided to return for a landing and made a left turn toward the airport. He said the airplane then lost lift because of strong wind and the airplane struck the…

It was a fairly nice November morning, and I had booked a Cessna 172 from John Wayne Airport to Catalina for a day trip to celebrate with my wife on our anniversary.

The weather was VFR and was forecasted to remain that way until 1900 local. As we approached Catalina, I could see the low clouds just west of the island with their eastwardly movement hampered by a weak high that sat over the area.

The tour bus took us from the airport to Avalon and would not return until 1600 local. The entire time in Avalon, I was checking the weather on my cell phone, worried that the weather would not hold. The bus ride back was a miserable 30 minutes as I watched the sky and monitored ASOS.

Whe…