Kind of like taking a champ to a cub fly in, and making the front page of the local news paper. There was a lot of angry old men the day this paper got published during sentimental journey. Hahaha

That's hilarious!!!!
The media never gets it right, even when it's something good.

robw56 wrote:As far as I know converted 182s have been able to join the club for a few years now. I agree their forums are pretty dead though.

I don't think that's the case-- the website mentions something about "everyone member owns one of these two great airplanes" (180 / 185).

slowmover wrote:......Remains to be seen if I send them another $25 bucks this year. Looking for a reason to do so and haven't found one yet.

A friend of mine told me he joined "the club" once but let his membership lapse after he'd took advantage of all the vendor discounts available to club members. I received the Dec 2014 newsletter but didn't see where there's many (if any) of those these days. It did have 7 pages of "how to" instructions for their website though. It also lists the officers & regional directors, and I see the guy for WA OR ID & MT actually lives in Colorado. The "club store" lists a whole page plus of overpriced caps shirts & other essentials.

No offense to anyone, but so far I'm not seeing much reason to re-up next year.

Tom wrote:Kind of like taking a champ to a cub fly in, and making the front page of the local news paper. There was a lot of angry old men the day this paper got published during sentimental journey. Hahaha

That's hilarious!

There is a ton of very accessible Skywagon knowledge on this forum and in the knowledge base that can be tapped in to without a generous helping of attitude from wankers that are out to prove how much better than you they are. Posted topics ranging from 180/185 pre-purchase considerations, maintenance issues, modifications and so forth are always lively discussions full of constructive feedback and respectful debate. As someone posted some time ago, BCP has gone "Skywagon Crazy". I will let my 180/185 membership lapse the next time it is due.

Frankly, I have never met a "club" that I like. I far prefer the community feel of BCP.

A friend of mine flew into the big Arlington fly-in a few years, and parked near a couple Skywagons. He said hi to them but they seemed pretty full of themselves so he didn't do much more than that. Later on, a guy in a Maule flew in and parked nearby. The fly-in folks swooped up and took his money, and gave him a prop placard to fill out. He didn't bother with that- just hung it on the prop and headed out to check out the show. While he was gone, the two skywagon guys filled in his placard for him - "make & model : skywagon wanna-be". That woulda been pretty funny if they were all buddies, and in fact they did think it was funny-- him, not so much. That's the kind of "fun" I can do without.

hotrod180 wrote:

robw56 wrote:As far as I know converted 182s have been able to join the club for a few years now. I agree their forums are pretty dead though.

I don't think that's the case-- the website mentions something about "everyone member owns one of these two great airplanes" (180 / 185).

Rob's right - tailwheel-converted straight-tail 182's are allowed. When the new website format got up and running, the first thread that got "reignited" was the debate on whether or not to allow them in - even though the directors of the club had voted to allow it several years before. Silly stuff.

CapnMike wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:

robw56 wrote:As far as I know converted 182s have been able to join the club for a few years now. I agree their forums are pretty dead though.

I don't think that's the case-- the website mentions something about "everyone member owns one of these two great airplanes" (180 / 185).

Rob's right - tailwheel-converted straight-tail 182's are allowed. When the new website format got up and running, the first thread that got "reignited" was the debate on whether or not to allow them in - even though the directors of the club had voted to allow it several years before. Silly stuff.

Yep, the bastard child and I joined for one year. Lots of good PDF info I was able to save.
One good example was a maintainance manual full of hand written notes of problem areas to watch for.
Even though my plane didn't measure up to their standards at heart, I would have continued on if the place wasn't dead.

Terry wrote:

CapnMike wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:[quote="robw56"]As far as I know converted 182s have been able to join the club for a few years now. I agree their forums are pretty dead though.

I don't think that's the case-- the website mentions something about "everyone member owns one of these two great airplanes" (180 / 185).

Rob's right - tailwheel-converted straight-tail 182's are allowed. When the new website format got up and running, the first thread that got "reignited" was the debate on whether or not to allow them in - even though the directors of the club had voted to allow it several years before. Silly stuff.

Yep, the bastard child and I joined for one year. Lots of good PDF info I was able to save.
One good example was a maintainance manual full of hand written notes of problem areas to watch for.
Even though my plane didn't measure up to their standards at heart, I would have continued on if the place wasn't dead.[/quote]

Can you still get those manuals? That would be great for an A&P/IA like my self who maintains a couple but I don't own one.

That's the problem with that club Tom, you have to own the right piece of aluminum to participate. If they would open it up to guys like yourself and others they could build a good community of not only owners but also those who have an interest.
They have a bunch of info that is really helpful for maintainance and annuals, it wouldn't be right for me to give it away. I know, what the f'ever.
Around the campfire you can have all the PDF's I have.

Thats what i don't get, little tricks like that will keep the cost of there maint. down in the future, I'm sure the old mechanics who added those notes are not going to be around for ever

Tom

If you don't mind i'd love to get the ones you have, add them to my collection.

I've been to a few 180/185 fly-ins in Idaho in my 182 with my 180 pals.There "180-185 club" is a closed society . I sold firewall mounted batteries to them -even installing some at Johnson Creek or Garden Valley . There web site is not very active -there newsletter is monthly online . mostly with director reports .

Full disclosure. I am a member of the club and a director. I am the director referred to here as representing the NW Region but living in Colorado. That is true in the winters but I also live in Montana in the summertime. As pointed our here (a lot!) the club is undergoing an identity change. The club began as a social entity in the early days for 180 owners. Even then it was a struggle to let the 185 guys join up but that did eventually happen. All the topics raised here about membership and requirements have been brought up and discussed at the annual meetings for many years now. Change is slow but the club is changing.I don't see the membership requirements changing anytime soon but what you will see is some changes WRT the website and interactions. As mentioned here, we changed the website, the hosting and the webmaster to ensure a fresh start and remove any conflicts of interest that arose in the past. The club also gained a full membership management system which has helped out on the back end a lot. I will also admit the new forums leave a lot to be desired compared to other products but they are functional and do contain all of the historical data from the previous website platform.

More disclosure, the previous webmaster was not an officer of the club. He was a paid volunteer. The current webmaster is an unpaid volunteer club member and not an officer.

The value of the club has nothing to do with the membership dues. Seriously, $25 is nothing. The value I have found from the club is going to the events, ignoring the arrogant personalities (those are everywhere anyway) and sitting down with these old guys and extracting their knowledge one on one. The stories and the information i get on these airplanes makes dealing with all the personalities worth it.

We have a lot of new members on the board so you will likely see new energy and changes due to that.

No hard feelings here, this topic is tame compared to some of the others I've seen. In the end, for me, its about the plane. The $25 more than pays for itself. The Club Manual alone (a huge technical resource) is worth 10x the price of admission.

Mike Perkins

A185F wrote:The value I have found from the club is going to the events, ignoring the arrogant personalities (those are everywhere anyway) and sitting down with these old guys and extracting their knowledge one on one.
Mike Perkins

I suppose if you are into trolley rides to dusty museums wearing Hawaiian shirts and feasting on all-you-can-eat buffets at the Holiday Inn while waxing poetic on how great it was in the 80's, than the club is kick but. For me, not so much for all the reasons that have been covered. I'd rather give an extra $25 to Zane.



That said... Mike, is this your 185 flying in BC? Always loved this little vid clip. Was one of the inspirations for my project (Thanks!)

Yeah that's mine.

Keep in mind only *some* of the fly in's are like that. The few that are in the Northwest (Jcreek, GValley) are the places where you sit around the fire and listen to the stories, and learn. Life is not all sunshine an puppy dogs. Most folks in the club aren't into the back country thing and that's OK. Lots of guys from the South and Midwest focus on speed (170 knots true+), others on floats and still others on cross country and IFR. That's kind of the great thing with these planes. Wide mission capabilities. I switch mine up from 850's to 29's depending on where I'm going and what I'm doing. The club is made up of all types and the old guys aren't getting any younger.

Mike

Ouch.
Some of us who are in the club live for the back country flying. Just don't diss my Hawiian shirt.
I still think BCP is the best. Some of the previous mentioned points are valid.

FWIW, I have to support their right to limit full membership to 180/185 owners. A type club is a type club, for people who own a certain type of airplane.

HOWEVER, I believe they should also have some sort of "associate member" for others who have some relevance to the club without actually owning a 180.

Can you imagine that the 180/185 club would have wanted to keep Wup Winn out because he has a different airplane... even though (I believe) a lot of SKywagons rely on Bushwheels? Or whoever owns and manages the Bushwheels company now. (Me too, for that matter, Skywagons are the largest single demographic for my product)

Most importantly, what about people who are interested in owning a 180, or are working toward being a back country pilot? What about someone who flies a 180 or 185 professionally for the Forest Service or an AK 135 operator... but who doesn't actually own one?

Like many others, I'm only suggesting that there is a workable compromise somewhere that can be found. The non-owners should not have voting rights, or "full membership", etc. But there should be a place for them in the daily discussions or participating in events.

Hell, even the outlaw biker gangs have associate and supporter status for the groupuies and juniors who can't be "full patch" members.

The Club is exploring this topic. Its already on the agenda for the next board meeting.

Mike

Along with the husky I fly a cessna 421C and I am a member of the twin cessna type club. Along with BCP they are the most helpful group I have come across there are always new members on there discussing whether or not a twin cessna is right for them and they always receive good advice. Pressurized Cessna twins are extremely complicated beasts and being able to access the wealth of knowledge on that site BEFORE buying one is invaluable. I think they are a great model for how a type club should work. www.twincessna.org

The Cessna 180/185 Bookface page is also pretty lively. Lots of pictures and discussions showing up on my feed daily.