Wow! great look.

Very nice!

Holy cow!! Looks great!!

So far, so Great! Still flying break-in style- no hot-rodding ultra-STOL backcountry pireps for you yet. But man is it sweet. And smooth.

The short recap: IO-360M1B, MT Prop, Sportsman, 29" ABW, BBW, Atlee jump seats, CGR-30P, Garmin 695, Tanis, paint, LEDs, RMD tips. Probably more- I forgot. Damn it's good to be back in the air. Huge thanks to Northland Aviation for the Sportsman and seats, and Chena Marina for everything else.

More later. I gotta go fly some more.

-DP

Awesome!! Very very jealous! You most likely have the coolest 170 on the planet!

Nice!

What an excellent looking machine DP! You are STOKED!

Wow, looking good!! Are you keeping it at Lake Hood? I'd love to see it in person on my next ANC layover

CapnMike wrote:Wow, looking good!! Are you keeping it at Lake Hood? I'd love to see it in person on my next ANC layover

Thanks everyone! Yep, it's very exciting, and been a long time coming, in many ways.
Mike- It's north of there by 150 miles or so. But if I'm ever planning a stay in Anchorage I'll drop a line to see what you're up to.
Cheers,
-DP

Oh yeah- one more new item I overlooked:

Good deal! Just in time for some of the best flying season in that part of the world!

But, really.....are they ever truly "complete"?

Enjoy it, and your newly re-instated freedom.

MTV

Simon,

I love it. Will be an icon for many seasons!

-8

Looks awesome!

mtv wrote:Enjoy it, and your newly re-instated freedom.

MTV

Man, that is the truth, ain't it?! I just logged another hour of freedom this morning!

Congratulations DP. Looks fantastic!

denalipilot wrote:

River rat wrote:The Cessna 170B is one of the best planes ever built and lycoming 0-360s are one of the best engines around it's crazy not to put them together.

River Rat for the Win!!

-DP

So was I right? Or was I right?

Congratulations DP! I am anxious to hear more about how it fly's and your impressions.

G44

River rat wrote:

denalipilot wrote:

River rat wrote:The Cessna 170B is one of the best planes ever built and lycoming 0-360s are one of the best engines around it's crazy not to put them together.

River Rat for the Win!!

-DP

So was I right? Or was I right?

Yes and Yes!

G44 wrote:Congratulations DP! I am anxious to hear more about how it fly's and your impressions.

G44

Kurt,
I am having a blast with it so far. I've been flying at break-in power settings, so I haven't experimented much with things like slow flight or leaning. That will have to wait a while longer. But there's a very noticeable reduction in the takeoff roll, I picked up around 30 MPH in cruise even with the addition of 29's and BBW, and I catch myself climbing out at 1,000 FPM without even trying. The CGR shows the engine temps running really close. Also, the engine and prop combo is silky smooth.
As you know, I did a whole bunch of stuff at once, so I can't totally separate out the gains from the Sportsman, or the AOA on 29's, the MT, or the engine. The combined effect is a LOT more authority than it used to have. It feels like carving air instead of bouncing along in it.
In total I gained about 50 lbs over the old calculated weight- but some of that is Sportsman, 29's, BBW, 695 etc. The MT saved 25 lbs over the Hartzell, and helped keep the empty CG in a reasonable place.
The only glitch at all is a faint chirp in the headsets when running the AeroLED strobes, even with completely new shielded wiring and wearing Zulus. But the RMD wingtip lights and MaxPulse provide much of the same benefit and have no associated noise.
I'll try to post more numbers when I get beyond the break-in interval.

-DP