On a lark I started looking at Cessna 195's on TAP. I thought they would be outrageously expensive, but to my shock I found they are amazingly affordable. In fact, I'd say you can get really nice 195 for about 30% less than an equivalent 180!

And talk about a neat airplane! I've always thought it was one of the best looking airplanes built, with a back seat you can sleep on and cargo room to spare.

While I don't really want to feed a 300hp engine, it seems to me that for someone who needed to carry a few people or a lot of gear, a 195 would be a hell of a good deal. Strange that you don't see many of them around.

What a gorgeous airplane, I've got four 190/195's within 30 miles of my home airport. Ocasionally well meet in a traffic pattern and man do they look nice in the air.

You've got me thinking now ......maybe a 195 on floats.

Dusty,
I seem to recall that they made floats for the 195...though I'd guess they are rather rare.

A buddy of mine had one for years and put a couple thousand hours on it. He loved it because he could load up the whole family plus skies, baggage, the family parrot, etc., and fly over the Sierra's for a weekend at Mammoth. Plenty of HP, plenty of room. Of course his idea of affordable transportation is different than mine...his current plane is a NA T-28.

I got a ride in one a few months ago. Very neat, though visibility is nonexistent on the ground and limited in the air. I guess the price is right because people are afraid of the big radial engine and the rather nasty ground handling qualitites they are known to have.

Still, if I had a family to carry around (or better yet, three friends who would actually help pay for gas), I'd give them a serious look. What am I saying, I don't have either and I'm still looking at them...now to sell the wife on the idea

My t/w instructor owned one for a long time and speaks very highly of them. Biggest problem he said it has is the constant maintinence on the radial. BTW his wife constantly talks about buying another one........... May not be as tough a sell as you thought!

strongly recommend you fly in one and are very proficient at tailwheel, also insurance will be high and only 1 or 2 sources (high incident rate)

having said all that, I have a good friend that we finally talked into going with us on our annual back-country trip (July 2007). He is an excellent pilot with no back-country experience (until now), however we were there and walked (briefed each approach and he followed us into the following strips) him through each from easiest to more difficult. In addition I assist in maintaining 2 of them, no big deal to me anyway, the owner does need to be a hands on owner, if not don't even consider one.

Johnson Creek, Big Creek, Bruce Meadow, Smiley Creek, Flying B, Meadow Creek, Seeley Lake, West Fork plus more normal places. The plane did fine although Flying B was about the limit.

Curriers in greenville me operates them on floats.There was a nice article about him and 195's in a seaplane pilots annual mag a few years ago. http://www.curriersflyingservice.com/

I wonder if you can put a set of monster AK Bushwheels on a 195? I think that would be a unique looking setup.

I sort of like the thought of going from a C140 to a C195. I think it would be a great riches to rags story.

ravi,

How do you spell ground loop?? Cessna 190-195. They are fairly demanding airplanes on the runway, but not as ugly as many others. Just not as friendly as a 180, for example.

Floats are easy to come by for these airplanes--EDO 3430's were approved. Finding the rigging is a little tougher, though they are around.

I've flown several 185's mounted on 195 rigged 3430's.

MTV

I believe they were all originally spec'd with Goodyear X-Wind articulating gear that allow you to get pretty out of shape sideways before you loop.

If any 190-195 drivers out there are in need of a set, I've got some for you!

If it's the same kind of crosswind gear that the birddog had, then I understand the cure was worse than the diease.

Zane,

The crosswind gear was an option on all the early Cessna aircraft, including the 190/195.

MTV

Best thing about the crosswind gear on a 195 is kicking it sideways while taxiing, so you can see.... not to mention the looks!
JH

My dad had a 195 with 275 Jake that he ferried back from Trinidad and rebuilt after it had been ground looped in something like 1977.
Then I had the fortune to fly one of the four in the normal category of the total of 29 or so that had the 450 on it (the other twenty five or so were restricted and were originally used by Parks Aerial Survey.). I flew jumpers in it for about 700 hours. We outfitted it with a 12:1 blower, lexan slide up jump door, step, hung the oil cooler outside, and eventually put a heavy Hartzell three blade on it. This one had the original 50 gallons of fuel per side plus a 25 gallon "trunk" tank. It didn't feel sh*t. We could PACK the cabin, full fuel and stroke it with 8-9k density alt's and you wouldn't know it. We flew it out of Kif Brown's (the guy that has the maroon 185 at Johnson creek now) old 1500' or so strip near Friday Harbor without problem. even with the split flap you can learn to fly that wing fairly slow. We also changed the Badyear's to Cleveland's after about 150 hours. That was the best switch we made. They sucked and constantly popped the clips. After the switch I could land on the mains make a 45 degree left turn, taxi about 300', make another 90 degree left turn, taxi 400', make another 180 degree turn while stopping and THEN set the tail down! All with power and differential braking in calm winds of course. The visibility thing is worse with the 450 because instead of going from the firewall and flaring in (aside from the cylider bumps) it goes from the firewall and flares OUT to meet the radius of a Beech 18 nose ring. They robbed some other parts as well such as a Howard exhaust. That was one of the neatest things about flying that plane. At night the left hand exhaust would reflect in the polished pitot tube (about a foot long) and you could lean by adjusting the blueness of the flame. We also put a spring in the tailwheel oleo to provide more support. It is made by a guy in Michigan who belongs to the 195 club.
Overall sweet and fun ride, just pay attention. I never ground looped it or came close and I did some stupid stuff (I was 18) but once you learn what it's limits are it is a beautiful plane to fly. One caution in crosswinds though; it has enough aileron to keep the downwind wheel up past where you will run out of rudder. YOU must conciously let the wheel down when you feel you are bottoming out on the rudder so you will have a brake tap on the downwind wheel if you need it. It only makes sense that it runs out of rudder when you park it next to a 170. They are basically the same rudder only the 195 had the bottom cut off to install a tail cone. I don't advise too many three point ops. Although "tail low" wheel landings and takeoffs are the shortest and the most common for me.

What were you doing while operating out of the Friday Harbor strip-- hauling jumpers, flying for fun, or what? Never heard of a jump operation up there but I've only been flying for about 12 years now, and living in western WA for 15.
A 450 Pratt on a 195 must be a helluva airplane. Esp when you consider that the 190 is basically the same thing, but with only a 220 Continental. Seems to me like the 985 would make it real nose heavy. I've talked to guys who've flown 450 Stearmans, they said they perform real well but are not esp fun to fly due to feeling "heavy". Ditto for clipwing T-Crafts with big Lycomings.

Eric

We were just dropping in to visit but Kif has had the Shark air Twin Otter there back in the mid 80's flying loads.
It was a bit nose heavy but for every day jump flying it was no problem. If we were going somewhere with stuff in it load kept it balanced, and if we didn't have a load we could load the trunk tank and just burn it down to about 10-15 gallons and that would do. It really wasn't that bad woth the four in the normal category because the engine mounts were built to keep the engine close to the firewall (they still swung out though!). The 25 or so 196's (that's what they called the ones in Restricted category) had a longer engine mount and the nose heavy factor was a bit more pronounced. I believe in the operation it was designed for it wasn't a problem due to the large camera equipment mounted in the back. Another fun little bit of trivia about the 196 is it's aux fuel setup. It had one of the 50's Cessna 310 "tuna" tip tanks mounted on each wing tip! Supposedly they not only held fuel but also helped them at altitude by acting as a bit of a swash plate. That is only hearsay on my part because the only 196 I flew (once) had them removed.

Here's a great website for Cessna 195's:

http://www.cessna195.org/

Jump to the photo gallery:
http://www.cessna195.org/Gallery/photo/index.cfm?page=1

Jump to video library:
http://www.cessna195.org/Gallery/video/index.cfm?order=updated&keywords=1

This B-eautiful airplane was at JC during the flyin last summer. It is immaculate! There was another one there, not quite as nice, but not many are.

My $.02
They are a great airplane!
I put just over 160 hrs on mine this summer. I don't have a problem seeing out of it but I'm tall, I can actualy see out of it better than from the back of the Skybolt and from the RV6. Most all the ground loops are from 15-20 mph, when the gaurd is down and the tail has quit working. The Clevelands make a big difference I am told as mine has them and they work very well. Same as a 310. On the engine they have come up with some improvements and the tbo is now 1400 hrs. and they are using 1 quart every 10-15 hours. Rebuild is 21K
compared to over 30k for a 300hp 520 or 540. I burn 13-16 gph, depending on the mission, same as I used to get in a 206-185, 300 hp is 300 hp no matter how you get it. Above 7000' i true out about 150-160 mph. 80 gals fuel.
Whitehorse to Williams Lake was my longest leg this summer, Rock solid in rough air.
Hell of a good IFR platform. All the flaps do is tip you forward so you can see, they just add drag no lift! Bottom of the green and the white are the same.
The fellow I got mine from said never to get below 70 on final, but I fly it at 60 and over the fence at 55 and flair at 50 and then set it on the mains and it really like that.
If you are interested, get on the 195.org site and find someone close they will be more than happy to give you a ride.
They are a bird of another feather so find a good 195 mech and have a prebuy done,
Lots of things that are hidden?
They do have an AD for a spar strap. A fellow flew one thru a thunderstorm and bent the wings up about 15 degrees on both sides!! but landed! In that area the ones that are kept outside the window on top leaks and the old insulation holds the moisture and it corrodes the main spar above the front seats.
There are 3 main repair places in the states eastcoast, mid, and CA.
I think they are one of the nicest flying birds out there. PM me if you get close to Spokane and I'll make sure you get a ride.
GT
They sound good when you start, and when you get there you have Arrived!
Takes about 2 minutes to shut down because you have to purge the oil out of the crankcase to the tank with the prop pulled all the way out. You have to start them the same way with the prop pulled all the way out so that the engine gets all the oil pressure first, when it comes up then push the prop in.

M6RV6 wrote:Takes about 2 minutes to shut down because you have to purge the oil out of the crankcase to the tank with the prop pulled all the way out. You have to start them the same way with the prop pulled all the way out so that the engine gets all the oil pressure first, when it comes up then push the prop in.

Can you elaborate on that??? All the local 190/195 guys do this, but no other radial operators do. So who's right or is this a 190/195 specific operation?

nkh