While 31's wont be on a Cardinal, has anyone here owned a cardinal and can give some first hand ownership/flying anecdotes? They look to be a good price for an 'economic' cross country flying machine. One has caught my eye.

After selling the 59' 182 the ownership bug has still been with me. Meeting with a ownership/club next week to try and suppress that bug as they have 2 newer Cessnas and a debonair coming online for a lot less than owning.

Cardinals are cool! Lake Powell Air used to have one based in PGA, did Ditch tours and Monument Valley trips. Limited to 2 pax, was the perfect "couple" machine. Somewhere at the bottom of Lake Powell, ditched after engine failure on the San Juan arm. Kid did great, ditched right next to a houseboat. Actually one of my favorite airplanes in the fleet. RIP "Kermit"! white with "straight out of the '70s" green trim/interior.

I fly pipeline patrol in a cardinal and have 2000hrs in one. The best ones are the older cardinals with the 180hp, DO NOT get a 150hp cardinal they are way too underpowered. The earlier ones have a different wing than the newer B models which makes the older ones roll quicker and a little faster. They land different than most Cessna in my opinion they land like a Piper Comanche, takes a little practice to make pretty landings. If buying one be sure to check the stabilator for slack, and the doors for slack. Those are two places that wear and are expensive to fix. If taken care of they can last a long time. Our company has one with 26,000hrs on the airframe and they live there life at 200ft AGL and 2700rpm Monday-Friday.

Thanks, I was looking at the 200hp models -- so the newer wing. I do like the looks but it has been awhile since been around on in person.

29singlespeed wrote:Thanks, I was looking at the 200hp models -- so the newer wing. I do like the looks but it has been awhile since been around on in person.

Only the retractable Cardinals were 200hp models. Nice wide cabins and good looking.

The RGs had a lot of gear issues with nose gear collapses.

If you want/need that mission profile, BUY IT. I owned a FG 177 for a decade and flew it all over the US and lots in Colorado. It took me from my home field at 7600' directly over 14,000' peaks enroute to the western slope many many times. I got my instrument rating and spin endorsement in it. It is an absolutly wonderful machine. It likes to be flown a certain way and you cannot fly it ham-fisted. Mine had the original laminar flow wing and that is the desired wing for that airframe. Cessna designed it to replace the Skyhawk, but it's an entirely different plane than the 172. With the wing moved aft 14" and the stabilator, it flies and feels very different. In an effort to appease Cessna dealers who couldn't fly the Cardinal, Cessna changed (ruined) the Cardinal over time. Eventually, it was dropped. Too bad.

I have about 20 hours in one, the 180hp version, constant-speed and Powerflow exhaust. I really liked it. Very comfortable and solid flyer. Can't speak to the ownership aspect of it but I would assume similar costs to C172.

The performance, space and looks of the 200hp rg fit my use. Ifr, long distance and lots of visibility. Need to try and fly one.

There is also a maule m7 in wa talking to me ... Love the whole right side opens up but damn that insurance!

Looking like I will join the club and fly newer planes less than 20 years old.. Can't beat a 182 $120wet full ifr and built in the late 90s

I can't believe that I'm actually doing this. Tomorrow I'm going to go kick the tires on a local Cardinal. The owner bought it new and is thinking he is done flying so will sell it. At first glance a 177 has nothing that I want; it is ugly, not at all backcountry and it's a tricycle. Looking closer it has become somewhat appealing; good cruise speed on 180hp, mogas STC available, 900lb+ useful...some over 1000lb, roomy interior (something the wife will like), affordable entry cost, and from what I've been able to determine not any more expensive to maintain than any other Cessna single. Should be capable of getting me into most of the Idaho strips so I'd still get to have some fun. My desire to play on the local gravel bars and other off airport locations would just have to wait till a time in my life when I can build the plane I really want.

I'm not serious yet and the owner knows that but the 177 does seem to check most of the operational/boxes I defined. Wish it wasn't so ugly but at least it is an airplane

Anyone have any Cardinal experience they can share?

I have limited experience in a Cardinal RG, less than 10 hours. I enjoyed it the times I flew it. It's comfortable and a lot faster than the planes I'm used to. I didn't have any problems landing it like some people complain about. Actually, my instructor said I landed better than he could! If I wanted a 4 seat cross country machine the Cardinal RG would be high on my list since I prefer a high wing. With the fixed gear Cardinal im sure you could take it anywhere stock 172s and 182s go into.

N300RE,

When I flew pipeline for Underwood late last century, they had a nice 180 hp Cardinal that one of the other pilots used mostly and liked it very much. He flew well right of the ROW and looked out the left window. I didn't like it because of the high panel and larger cowl. I flew at 200' AGL just on the right edge of the ROW and looked over the left side of the cowl. I had 20-15 vision and could read a mile marker over the cowl. It was a very nice airplane, however.

Bill, the other pilot, ran it at 2500 rpm and 21 inches and got almost 8 gph. He got five hours out of it, but I could only go two hours with the amount of coffee I drank. It had a throttle that would creep in, not out, when not frictioned down well. I ran the thing out of gas in 3.75 hours running it squared, didn't know, and put a long tear in the stableator with the top of a metal fence post going into a pasture on the Red River. I was lined up really well on this field when I decided to try the fuel pump. Wrong. It ran the engine long enough I turned away. When it quit again I had to do a eighty degree descending turn back to land the 1/4 mile way rather than the 1/2 mile way on the eighty acre pasture. I used full flaps and full slip to get down short of the fence, jump the fence, land again and get stopped before some mesquite trees halfway through the 1/4 mile. The airplane maneuvered well and the gear accepted the jump and fairly firm landing.

Jim

N300RE wrote:I fly pipeline patrol in a cardinal and have 2000hrs in one. The best ones are the older cardinals with the 180hp, DO NOT get a 150hp cardinal they are way too underpowered. The earlier ones have a different wing than the newer B models which makes the older ones roll quicker and a little faster. They land different than most Cessna in my opinion they land like a Piper Comanche, takes a little practice to make pretty landings. If buying one be sure to check the stabilator for slack, and the doors for slack. Those are two places that wear and are expensive to fix. If taken care of they can last a long time. Our company has one with 26,000hrs on the airframe and they live there life at 200ft AGL and 2700rpm Monday-Friday.

The biggest thing on the cardinals are the stabilator bearings and the door hinges. These are the biggest wear items and are a pita to fix. We had one with 180hp, stol kit, droop tips, and VGs, it was a good performer but it rode SO ROUGH that nobody wanted to fly it. They can also carry A Lot and have a lot of space if you take the back seat out, I've carried several 360s and 540s in it. Another thing to check are the wings to make sure there aren't any leaks. We were always reselling tanks, but ours also spent there whole life at 200ft.

Do they have wet wings?

contactflying wrote:N300RE,

When I flew pipeline for Underwood late last century, they had a nice 180 hp Cardinal that one of the other pilots used mostly and liked it very much. He flew well right of the ROW and looked out the left window. I didn't like it because of the high panel and larger cowl. I flew at 200' AGL just on the right edge of the ROW and looked over the left side of the cowl. I had 20-15 vision and could read a mile marker over the cowl. It was a very nice airplane, however.

Bill, the other pilot, ran it at 2500 rpm and 21 inches and got almost 8 gph. He got five hours out of it, but I could only go two hours with the amount of coffee I drank. It had a throttle that would creep in, not out, when not frictioned down well. I ran the thing out of gas in 3.75 hours running it squared, didn't know, and put a long tear in the stableator with the top of a metal fence post going into a pasture on the Red River. I was lined up really well on this field when I decided to try the fuel pump. Wrong. It ran the engine long enough I turned away. When it quit again I had to do a eighty degree descending turn back to land the 1/4 mile way rather than the 1/2 mile way on the eighty acre pasture. I used full flaps and full slip to get down short of the fence, jump the fence, land again and get stopped before some mesquite trees halfway through the 1/4 mile. The airplane maneuvered well and the gear accepted the jump and fairly firm landing.

Jim

The company I flew for bought out Underwood along with their fleet of tired 172s and 177s. Do you remember which Cardinal you flew? We had one pilot that claimed to get 7hrs out of his by running at 2100 and 18 inches. I usually ran it at 26 squared and would stop about every 3.5 hrs.

It's hard to beat a good Cardinal. The doors are huge and the cabin has lots of room.
And they fly nice as well.

I'd jump on a good one any day.

MTV

whee wrote:Do they have wet wings?

Yes all Cardinals are wet wings.

N300RE,

It was a green and white one. It had been Joe Underwood's when he still flew some. It had been polished with Turtle Wax so many times it was faded green and faded white. It was low time in 1997, meybe 10,000 hours or so.

Jim

Not real excited about wet wings. I've heard that if you spend enough time on dirt then all wet wings will start to leak; I don't know if that is true or not.

The one I'm going to look at is owned buy the original purchaser and only has 2300ish hours on it. They guy bought it new, flew it for years then sold it and bought a 182. He liked the 177 better so after a couple years he sold the 182 and bought back the 177. Either way I'm just excited to actually go out to the airport for the first time in forever and get up close to an airplane.

contactflying wrote:N300RE,

It was a green and white one. It had been Joe Underwood's when he still flew some. It had been polished with Turtle Wax so many times it was faded green and faded white. It was low time in 1997, meybe 10,000 hours or so.

Jim

That was my old Cardinal, I put 5000 hrs on it and when I left it had around 26,000 hrs.
I had a lot of bird strikes in it.