22 March 2022
I’m going to have to write this quietly, I don’t want to hurt my aeroplane’s feelings, particularly as we still have plans for some adventures. And anyway, I haven’t fully made up my mind. Probably.
The thing is, I’ve owned the Cessna 182 for 22 years now and we’ve been through a lot together. The start of our relationship may have been a bit bumpy. There was that feeling of betrayal caused by some truly astounding early maintenance bills that, in retrospect, had more to do with my ignorance and a (now defunct) maintenance organisation unfamiliar with the aeroplane than perhaps any serious defects. We survived that painful episode, and have since shared amazing flights that have taken us as far west as Oshkosh, as far east as Moscow (boo), as far south as Tunisia and as far north as Svalbard. But times change.
I suppose it was the DfT’s move against the N reg and people holding FAA Instrument Ratings that got me thinking.
A UK Instrument Rating will probably end up costing me £1,000, plus whatever training I need to do. To make use of it I’ll need to continue to spend a few hundred pounds a year on keeping the GPS database updated every 28 days, and then a few hundred more for a subscription to Jepp plates, and another few hundred on renewing the rating every year plus several hundred more on practice approaches.
“I’m not sure if this is a 22-year itch or something more permanent…”
It all adds up, and when I look through my logbook at the IFR flights I’ve taken, there are not that many that are essential ‘must get there or get back’ these days, and frankly for those that are, I’ve more often than not ended up flying commercial (have you seen how much you get fleeced by some of the bigger IFR equipped airports for their landing and handling fees?).
Sadly, when I divide the cost by the number of IFR hours flown in the system the result is hard to justify for the utility that it gives me personally, not to mention the fact that some of my most enjoyable General Aviation experiences have resulted from my pre-IR unplanned diversions and delays, all full of friends at airfields, stays in hotels and meals in restaurants in towns that I hadn’t previously heard of. I’ll complete my UK IR, it’s a box that needs ticking apart from anything else, but in the UK and Europe at least, I’ve decided that I prefer VFR touring.
But it’s not just an IFR/VFR thing. The Cessna 182 is an awesomely versatile aeroplane. At home (if a bit slow) at FL100 in the airways, enough wing, power and envelope to carry lots of people, fuel and luggage and happy to fly in and out of strips like Lundy (although not with all of the people and fuel!). It does that because of a great wing, great flaps and a honking 7.7 litre 0-470U up front that drinks its way through 42 litres of avgas an hour at economy settings. If you’re three up that’s not too bad, but a surprising amount of my flying is done either alone or with one other seat filled. That’s a lot of unused aeroplane being hauled around, and with fuel edging over £2 litre now…
So what might be next? Well, with the caveat that I’m not sure if this is a 22-year itch or something more permanent, I decided to draw up a set of requirements, more to distil my thoughts than to create a shopping list. The times I need to fill more than two seats are infrequent, so I think I’d be happy with having just two. I’m a big fan of European touring, so those two seats would have to be comfortable and there’ll have to be enough room in the cabin to make three-hour legs comfortable. You can cram pretty much anything into the 182 and take off without worrying (no, not really, but it’s much better than most in that regard), and while that’s never going to be an option in a lighter two-seater, I will want enough load capacity for a week away.
When not touring, I like a bit of local flight seeing and dropping in on friends with strips. It doesn’t need to be super STOL, but happy in and out of say 350 or 400m would be ideal, and while I’m drawing up the list of ideal requirements, something that can run tundra tyres in the winter and normal size tyres in the summer would be a bonus. Then there’s the engine, and here I’m finding myself drawn to the frugal fuel-injected version of the Rotax 912. The 912 is a great engine and the fuel injected version, the 912iS just seems to sit there sipping fuel all day long.
I don’t yet know if anything fits the bill exactly. The new 600kg microlight category should meet most of my wishes, including that of getting away as far as possible from the complex and evolving regulation of GA.
This year’s trip to AERO in Friedrichshafen should provide halls and halls of potential suitors, some of which might even make it to the UK…
But as I mentioned earlier, there are still a couple of adventures that need the 182’s help to tick off. So if you see her out and about, please don’t mention this column, I’d hate to upset her for nothing…
