I've always wanted to be a pilot, but circumstances never allowed... Two years ago, on my 44th birthday, I decided it was time. I live and work near Cable (KCCB) and knew a few people who hangar planes there. Two of the dads in my son's Boy Scout troop are also pilots, I think they were that little bit of encouragement it took to get started.

Took ground school and passed the FAA exam right away. Waited a bit and started training in a 172R (160hp) with a grumpy old CFI that scared the piss out of the youngsters, but we got along great and I really enjoy flying with him. Training was going kind of slow, the rental planes in our flight club are fairly busy, and when weather gets dodgy it's tough to get a slot. Life got in the way and I took a 6 month break with about 20hrs on the books.

Figured I'd better finish before my student license expired LOL! So I got back on the horse and finally checked off all the boxes with 40.2 hours. Checkride went well, even had time at the end of the ride and the DPE had me play around with odd configuration landings... My favorite, a power out, no flaps landing, oh and BTW your brakes don't work. Pulled the mixture and stopped the prop right before touchdown, flung both doors open and coasted to a stop. Lot's of curious looks from the cafe

So this year for my birthday I decided to get myself a present... A gorgeous '58 182A. Went up yesterday to get my insurance check and hi-perf endorsement. The previous owner and I have become great friends and he is very happy that the plane will stay at Cable and continue to fly. I put BAS harnesses in right away and still need to do a little radio work, but my plan is to spend money on blue go juice for the time being.

I look forward to getting to know this bird very well and can't wait to start exploring some of the awesome places I read about on this forum.

That airplane looks like a Cessna brochure from 1958. Congratulations you can’t go wrong with a 182.
What kind of cruise speed do you get with the wheel pants?

Yow! Now THAT'S a proper paint scheme! Congratulations!!!

WOW! Beautiful! Old straight tail 182's are great airplanes. Have fun with that. Good for you!

Kurt

Awesome paint scheme and airplane... congrats

Congratulations.

Very cool! Beautiful plane and congrats on the PPL!

Congrats! Something about those straight tails...good stuff. That era of the 182 was on my short list of planes, the 170 won out. Have a great summer!

Thanks! I know you're not suppose to put a whole lot of importance on paint and shiny bits, but she's just so darn pretty!

She's also in great mechanical shape, ~6600 total hours, stored indoors for the majority of the past 60 years. My mechanic said that he's never seen another 60 year old airframe with less corrosion than this one.

I haven't flown her enough to have any baseline for cruise speeds, fuel consumption, etc... I'll report back in a few weeks when I get some data.

Compared to the 172R that I trained in, this 182A with the vortex generators is magic in slow flight. The stall characteristics are very tame, you can almost just mush along in the stall and still have control. So far I've only flown with two real sized humans in the front and full tanks, CG is right ON the front of the envelope. We'll see if/how it changes when the CG moves back.

On another topic, outfitting a hangar without raiding all the tools from your garage is expensive LOL!!

“Blue go juice” is the best upgrade for any new plane! Congratulations, and enjoy! She’s a beauty.

JP256 wrote:“Blue go juice” is the best upgrade for any new plane! Congratulations, and enjoy! She’s a beauty.

Maybe not, at least in some places.
Is any ethanol-free mogas availe im California these days?

hotrod180 wrote:Is any ethanol-free mogas availe im California these days?

That right there is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time...

https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=CA

It’s not easy to get but it’s out there.

I have the MoGas STC, but I'm betting that it's going to be a rare occasion that I find any ethanol free fuel... Most of the places I've seen in CA that still have it know that it is in high demand, for boats and hotrods, so it commands a premium, often higher than 100LL.

I've read the threads on mixing to dilute the ethanol, or washing to remove it... If I was one of those guys who made bio-diesel in the garage, maybe that would appeal to me, but I'm lazy. I'll buy the blue stuff for now

Next project is rear headset jacks for the kids. Then when it's time for an oil change, I'm going to put her on the scales and see how much she weighs... I have a W&B sheet from the early 90's, but I'm pretty sure it was calculated vs. weighed and some things have changed since then. It will be nice to hit the reset button and know the real weight and CG... I hope LOL!

Probably going to hang out at the Antique Aircraft Display on Sunday morning at Cable (KCCB) if any locals are around. I'll do a few and see if it's worth it to cheat the tax man...

What a beauty!

Congrats on the ppl and plane! She is a beauty!

Congrats brother! Nice to have you aboard.