I was flipping through the logs of my trusty 180 the other day.

The first entry is the local 1.15 hour test flight from Wichita factory, undertaken on September 19th, 1959 by a pilot who's signature I wish I could read, along with the airworthiness sign-off by Executive Engineer John P. Speary.
So, my baby turned 49 about a month ago. Ever the romantic, I got her a case of Aeroshell for her birthday and she'll get an oil change this coming weekend.
Next September she'll turn the big 5-0. I'm thinking I need to do step things up a bit for that.

I'm sure many of us feel more of a connection to our machines than we'd admit to most non-pilots. Do any of you guys do anything special for your airplanes' birthdays?

57,
That's young. They don't even hit their stride until they are 60. My 140 is 62

Skybelle will be 49 the Jan. 13th of this year. Skybelle is a 1959 182 Skylane. She flew all around Wichita on that day. She spent a good deal of her life in Canada went by CF-LBO in those days. Now we call her N9054N. Five Four November for short. I think I will let her do a couple of touch and goes on her birthday if we don' have too much snow. I brought her back from a airport Queen situation and she has been rewarding me the last 1200 hours by never letting me down. Yes, I have a relationship that is more than a person should have with a pile of AL and other assorted materials. But, I replaced each wire one at a time, I installed the engine, fixed the interior, replaced the windows and all the rest. We are the best of friends. I take care of her and she does the same for me. If she could only cook! Bob

Jr.CubBuilder wrote:...but I do get a little nostalgic about ol Whisky sometimes.

Whiskey always does get better with age.

Jr.CubBuilder wrote:

skybobb wrote:I replaced each wire one at a time, I installed the engine, fixed the interior, replaced the windows and all the rest. We are the best of friends. Bob

Always good to know it's not just me doing that, I'll probably be done with ol Whisky about the time my medical goes south.

10-4 on the medical and airplane putting a stop on a love affair. I see on your avatar that you have or had a German Shorthair dog. I had a female Shorthair for about 14 years. She was a family dog, loved kids, raised some great puppies, and was the best hunting dog I ever hunted behind. When she died I never got another dog. She looked just like yours. Bob

Mine turned 60 in June. Getting total wing restoration, fuselage done three years ago. It needed a LOT of new parts! Hopefully will fly before it turns 61.
Dave

Ole Charlie is 61 years old, born in 47 and he can still run with the big dogs, he just takes a little longer to recover now

Little airplane was built 5-22-42. Accepted by the Army on 6-2-42. Like with my 180 I wish it could talk!

My old '57 182 turned 50 last year. I turned 50 this year. That airplane was pretty tired. Now I know how it feels!

It odd to think that my airplane was out adventuring for 20 years before I was even a twinkle in somebody's eye.

Like Kenny Chapman said it is too bad that these airplanes can't talk and tell us the stories, of the flights they have taken. His 180 belonged to the famous Alaskan pilot Don Sheldon. He was the Alaskan bush pilot in the book WAGER WITH THE WIND. I understand Kenny just sold that plane recently. I know there is a picture of it in his gallery on this forum. Just think of the stories that old 180 could relate. I know I would like to know more about my 1959 182. Bob

I really hated to sell the 180 but I wasn't able to do the kind of flying I wanted to do with it. I made it to Johnson Creek only twice in the last ten years. I get there more with work anyway so the Ryan suits me more these days. Sure wish I could have kept them both.