Dogpilot: I just had to look up "limbic encephalitis." Our prayers will be with your D-i-L. Sounds serious. And I also hope we get to run into each other in person and swap some stories by a campfire!


My friend has a TU206 that's currently a smidge overserviced on the front fork. Ground attitude is VERY taildragger! I've got to do a TR on our flight to pick my dog up, you'll see some pics in there.

I definitely agree, it flies like a 1-ton truck. No issues getting in and out of the places we've had it, but it'll never see a gravel bar. If I was running a 135 operation up here, I'd strongly consider one for most any job but the remote fly-in hunt niche.

Yes not a condition I would pick if I had the choice. Seriously, they have had to send the blood work to Europe to the only lab in the world that can do the analysis. The answer should be there as I arrive. They want to be sure of the condition, as the treatment is quite severe. They essentially knock her immune system off-line for about a week and she has to be insolation. The good news is the treatment has proven to be very effective. The effect of the condition, since it effects the CNS, she has regressed to that of a 8 year old, charmingly funny if it wasn't so serious. My son is very fortunate to be a permeant resident in Australia, they have health care that makes ours look positively African by contrast. That and it is essentially free (far better than even the Canadian system), my son has actually, suddenly, stopped bitching about his taxes. The treatment alone would have run $15K a dose. I am really impressed with the Neurologists, my friend here, also a neurologist, said they have done everything he would have done and some he never would thought of.

I leave in the morning for a day long trip. Thank god for the invention of Ambian. I appreciate your well wishes.

And if you've got the bucks, Beggles will take your old beater 185 and build you a new 185 that will be better than the new from Cessna years ago. Just bring $$$
Ron

+1 on Beagles. Scott M and his crew are top notch. If your ever in Greeley... stop by and say hello. Lots of eye candy to drool over. I consider Scott responsible for my 180 addiction ( I mean project)

CamTom12 wrote:
I definitely agree, it flies like a 1-ton truck. No issues getting in and out of the places we've had it, but it'll never see a gravel bar. If I was running a 135 operation up here, I'd strongly consider one for most any job but the remote fly-in hunt niche.

Comtom that's the beauty of the 206 very stable...trim it up and take the hands and feet off and rest Been on more sand bars and beach's then I can count over the years but floats is where she shines. Even tho a lite C185 on floats could beat me off by a plane length, flap handle in the 185 was the difference

mtv wrote:I seriously doubt they ever will. Who needs a 185? I've gone places in a 206 that I'd have to take a hard look at to even think going with a 185. The only really valid argument for the 185 MIGHT be skis, but I've seen 206s operated pretty successfully on skis, though their useful load is seriously reduced.
The 206 is one hell of a load hauler, and a great back country airplane. What's not to like? I've flown a lot of hours and a lot of landings in a 185. I'd take a 206 ANY day, for just about any mission.
MTV

Dam Mike I keep trying to catch U on something but U are correct again. C206 in my opinion is the best single engine Cessna made. Wheels, floats and skis. A 206 on straight skis will out perform a 185 hands down. I don't recall any reduction on useful load but guess I never looked Had a standing challenge around Lake Hood for years 206 vs 185 on skis, title for title for first one who got stuck loses....no takers Flotation of the 3 skis was the difference with no wheel dragging the snow.

skywagon guy wrote:And if you've got the bucks, Beggles will take your old beater 185 and build you a new 185 that will be better than the new from Cessna years ago. Just bring $$$
Ron

Can you give me any info on Beggles??

It's actually Beegle's. It's located at the Greeley/Weld Co. airport (GXY). The owner is Ray Burnham, who bought it from Ed Beegle years ago after working for Ed for several years. It's one of the best restoration shops in the country, certainly the best in the Rockies. It's been in business since pretty close to Orville and Wilbur--well, not quite, but a really long time. Here's their website: http://www.beeglesaircraft.com/index.php

Scott Mauch is their estimator. He gave me a tour of the place about a month ago. Very impressive.

The only downside is that I have to drive past a pile of wrecked airplanes to get to my hangar--you don't think that impresses my passengers, do you?

Cary

Thanks Cary!

mtv - I watched a guy come into Northway in a beat-up black 206 and start loading barrels of gas in the thing. The 206 flopped back on it's tail with the nose wheel off the ground. Don't remember how many he loaded, but the next thing I look out and with him up front the nose wheel was on the ground and he flew away.

With a 206 loaded heavy and LEGAL, they often will sit back on the tail. After one of those, you get Maintenance to install a tail skid, so it can sit back on the skid and no harm.

I once loaded a 206, which leaned back on its skid. An FAA Inspector came up and wanted to do a ramp check....and he insisted on working a wt/balance. I drug out a scale, unloaded everything, weighed it all, loaded it again, and the plane leaned back on the skid....Fed did the math and said go for it...you're legal.....after he'd worked it three times.

I crawled up the gear leg, got aboard, and the thing settled onto its nose, fired up, and off I went.

MTV

Same thing happen to me in my old 206, and I had two pax get of the plane. They said they would never fly with me again!! And haven't.

Back to the original question, I happened to be sitting on the shuttle bus with the Cessna single engine piston project manager at the recent AOPA summit in Texas. She over sees all the single engine piston aircraft programs except the C-162. Asked her the same question, and her answer was simply... no, nothing on the drawing board and no plans or interest by Cessna to do any conventional gear aircraft in the foreseeable future.

I recently spent a day looking at a 180 for sale by one of the medium-to-higher ups at Cessna A/C. Same question, same answer. Never going to happen.

There is no doubting the load hauling ability of the C206. But
I have to ask the question will it haul that load into and land on a gravel bar or across chuck holes and stumps?

With the new leadership at Cessna being very profit oriented I wouldn't be surprised to see Cessna drop all their piston engine models in the next 5 to 10 years.

buck_justice wrote:There is no doubting the load hauling ability of the C206. But
I have to ask the question will it haul that load into and land on a gravel bar or across chuck holes and stumps?

I think if you put the same tire under the 206 as the 185, it will go all the same places and there are a few it can go that the tailwheel will not.
There was a fellow on the tsiu that had the schnierder M&H racing slicks on his mains, and a 8:50 x 10 on the nose. I think he could put it anywhere I had balls enough to put 1 of our 185's, tho I was not the bestest of 185 pilots by far.
Have used a 206 with the big gar aeros on the mains and a little one on the front and worked it out of a few strips that most would not take a 185 into, some yes, most no.

I feel confident that Cessna will never build a tailwheel plane again. Those days are gone and tail dragger pilots are fading also. I can't speak about the hard core differences between the 206 and 185 they are both great planes, and I have flown both. But stateside strips don't count for much. I would like to see how my plane stacks up in the rough though.

buck_justice wrote:I have to ask the question will it haul that load into and land on a gravel bar or across chuck holes and stumps?

It's almost a whole different thread... but here goes

I'll speculate that a pilot would be foolish to try and take a trike where tailwheel planes go, in certain locations. Maybe it's possible sometimes, but I'd bet your trike doesn't last as long.... I dont mean beaches, rough airstrips, or gravel bars - I'm imagining a properly rocky river bed or seriously long / uneven grassy / brush surface, totally unsuitable for most aircraft, the >30" wheel country. I have yet to see a 30" nosewheel for a trike that'll let it go into some of the places you can still get a Super Cub, Maule, etc into. At times those places might be the kind of fishing holes or hunting spots you'd want to go, too.

2c.... I love my taildragger

dogpilot wrote:Meantime, I leave next week for Brisbane, Australia for a month, kind of a family emergency and business. My daughter in law is in the hospital for limbic encephalitis. Son is an engineer at a remote mine and flies back and forth. So I get to be a nurse and inspect my Twin Otter up in Cairns when my son is home. Bet my legs look good in white hose. So Africa will have to wait until I get back.

fancy a day trip down to Byron to burn a bit of fuel? how long you over here for!?