Has anyone here ever taken a late model 180, and officially got it redesigned as a 185? With various tweaks and mods over the years by previous owners and myself, I think I am physically most of the way there (I think the last thing to do would be to swap wing struts... and viola'!), but am curious if anyone has ever worked this path with the FAA and had any tips for doing so?

The type certificate will always show it as a 180. You’re working on a 180….how are you getting it to 3350 gross weight?

Etc. I had a Piper J-3. We actually converted it to PA-11 configuration. Was identical to an 11, but Airworthiness cert. still said J-3.

MTV

chugachman wrote: Has anyone here ever taken a late model 180, and officially got it redesigned as a 185?......

Is there a particular reason why you'd want to do this?
The FAA being the FAA, it seems like it would be a PITA to accomplish.
The airplane is what it is-- it will fly the same whether the paperwork sez 180 or 185.

There was a guy on here that converted a 182 to a 180 legally, FAA database was updated and everything - you could search the N number and it would give all the info for a 180.

As for why you'd want to switch it? Gross weight, resale.

I'm not in the straight tail fraternity but it seems to be other than for want of a different name there are enough performance and gross weight enhancing STC available that a 180 can get very close to it's big brother with out changing its identity.

Sales and insurance wise, even if you converted a 180 to the mighty 185, wouldn’t it still be valued as a 180??

Interesting, I wonder how all of that would work, personally I’d wager it would be cheaper to just sell a 180 and buy a 185 vs trying to go hog wild to make a 180 into a quasi 185.

Like the Subaru people who spend crazy money buying STI parts for their WRX, end up spending more than it would be to sell and add some cash and just get a STI, and end of the day it’ll always still be a WRX non STI.

I mean if you enjoy building sure, but even then why not just buy a basket case 185 and spend your time on that if ultimately you want a 5?

As pointed out, reason would be for full gross to 3350 and resale. With the late model 180's, the airframe was nearly identical, and I believe all key structural areas other than the wing strut have already been swapped on this airframe. The aircraft is nearly identical to the 185 already, and incidentally pretty much just how I'd want it, so if getting it changed to a 185 is just a paperwork exercise it would be worth the effort. Part of what brought this to mind is that I have been told that CHP actually did exactly this a while back with some of fleet, but haven't actually found anything concrete as of yet.

Richpiney talks about legally changing a 182 to a 180 in the FAA's eyes in the following thread a few posts down from the start. Looking up the N number, N8772X shows a 180D with a serial number from a 182. I'd say go for the change. Why not? You can even file paperwork before you buy/install the struts. Might be worth "shopping around" FSDO's though...

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/1960 ... sion-22489

The previous comments all make good sense.

That said, as mentioned above, there are substantial rumors around that the California Highway Patrol converted all of their 180s to 185s. A weak rumor is that work may have been done by Channel Islands Aviation in Camarillo. Maybe their shop could provide information.
Of course the State of California does not mind spending a lot of money, so cost would not be a control.
.
I checked the registry on a few ex-CHP 185s and the few I found had 185 serial numbers.


(Thread drift: I saw an interesting face book picture of a CHP 185 (N7140R) flying with the left gear missing. No following information found yet.)

It’s also possible that CHP was operating this aircraft as “Public Aircraft”.

MTV

4 CHP 180s were converted to C185s in the 1980s.and operated as Public Use aircraft with the intent of getting the conversions approved by the FAA and registered as normal category aircraft. Not sure of the contractor that did the conversions but think they were based in Santa Maria, CA at the time. The FAA approval of the conversions never happened while CHP owned the aircraft but when CHP converted to 206s, I believe Channel Islands Aviation, the dealer on the purchase, was able to get the conversions approved when they took the 185s in on trade.. A friend of mine at CHP was the Chief Pilot at the time and the moving force on doing the conversions. He found that there was very little difference in the parts manual between the late model (large fin) 180s and the 185s--he actually went through the parts book for each model and listed differences to start the process! His name is Del Schulte and he has a great aviation background from CHP, Reno Air racer, CalFire pilot, etc. And, he is available (530-227-6211) if the person wanting to do the conversion wants to call him to discuss the process.

The broken gear incident (broke about 8" from the cabin) occurred at the Paso Robles CHP base and the pilot felt/heard something strange on landing and immediately powered up and went around. Noticing he only had one gear left, he knew it wasn't going to be a great landing. But, after burning off fuel he did manage an uneventful landing in the dirt at the airport. They found a fatigue crack that had progressed quite a ways through the gear before it ultimately failed.

geoedgerton wrote:4 CHP 180s were converted to C185s in the 1980s.and operated as Public Use aircraft with the intent of getting the conversions approved by the FAA and registered as normal category aircraft. Not sure of the contractor that did the conversions but think they were based in Santa Maria, CA at the time. The FAA approval of the conversions never happened while CHP owned the aircraft but when CHP converted to 206s, I believe Channel Islands Aviation, the dealer on the purchase, was able to get the conversions approved when they took the 185s in on trade.. A friend of mine at CHP was the Chief Pilot at the time and the moving force on doing the conversions. He found that there was very little difference in the parts manual between the late model (large fin) 180s and the 185s--he actually went through the parts book for each model and listed differences to start the process! His name is Del Schulte and he has a great aviation background from CHP, Reno Air racer, CalFire pilot, etc. And, he is available (530-227-6211) if the person wanting to do the conversion wants to call him to discuss the process.

The broken gear incident (broke about 8" from the cabin) occurred at the Paso Robles CHP base and the pilot felt/heard something strange on landing and immediately powered up and went around. Noticing he only had one gear left, he knew it wasn't going to be a great landing. But, after burning off fuel he did manage an uneventful landing in the dirt at the airport. They found a fatigue crack that had progressed quite a ways through the gear before it ultimately failed.

Wow, what a great post. Thanks so much for all that info