@Antonio I don’t know, but the W670 and R670 is a well known radial having powered thousands of WW2 Stearmans, and the 190. They throw a lot of oil so am guessing they self inhibit nicely :)
How does the roughly 600hrs TSO on this particular 190 compare to typical TBO on the W-670 engine? Is it right to think they are similar figures?
This beautiful Cessna 190 is back on Planecheck (my PC doesn’t seem to like to upload the .pdf)
https://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=56627
During 2020 it had been for sale at a very reasonable price, am guessing the new asking price reflects the current market.
Clyde Cessna liked the 190 over the 195, not sure if the lower power (240HP vs 275HP) made it slightly easier for take off and landing.
The installation of a Sportsman or Horton STOL kit on any Cessna includes aileron gap seals, which improve the effectiveness of the ailerons, which is necessary, and very welcomed. It does then require the use of one’s feet in turns, but it’s supposed to anyway! A 180A and 182A are the same plane, aside from the landing gear arrangement. Indeed, it’s easy to convert a 182A back to be a 180. The later 182’s are a different beast, and really don’t compare to the 180/185 series as well, and were not intended to.
The 180’s and older 182’s are now desirable airplanes, and the subject of major restorations, multi mods, and float or amphibian conversions (in the case of the 182’s). Be careful with multi mod Cessnas, the interaction of the STC’d mods can leave gaps in compliance.
Certainly the less good visibility over the nose makes perception during landings more difficult. For this reason, I prefer to wheel land them.
There is a shrinking pool of people who have extensive experience in blind tailwheel aircraft, and I think few of them want an uncomfortable 5 seat Jacobs engined Cessna, no matter how cool it looks. That’s what has established the market value. An owner I knew who had some but not extensive experience, but who took his C195 landing characteristics pretty seriously totaled his plane in a botched landing after I’d say a year of ownership and lots of transition training. It was sad because he really loved the thing. Of course it wasn’t really totaled forever but his insurance company bought it, then I understand it ended up with one of the companies with jigs to rebuild the gear/fuselage. This was a decade ago, so I’m sure it’s flying again.
@johnh I found the 180A very docile on landing, with no vices, but am told the Sportsman cuff makes the approach and landing much nicer.
The 190/195 is still good value if you want a tourer with presence. A decent 190 sold in the pandemic in Germany for around EUR65k. A lot have torn off their landing gear in ground loops, but some owners claim their reputation for being hard to land is exaggerated.
skyhoppers will give you all the training you want for the 180 – at a price of course. I was thinking of doing it before I moved but never had time. I did my tailwheel refresh with Andrew and I can confirm that he is an excellent instructor.
I’ve never flown a 195 but I know someone who has done a bunch of instruction in them, including someone who did his primary training in one. I’m told it is a serious challenge to land, even worse than a Pitts, because you have no forward visibility at all and only marginal sideways visibility to the right.
Personally I would stick to admiring the 195 on the ramp.
A few weeks ago I managed to get a ride in a nice 180A (ex Arizona) and was very impressed by the handling. The owner had put the Sportsman STOL leading edge cuff, which made slow flight very predictable. The handling was much sweeter than I expected, having a lot of hours in the derivative descendant of the 180, the 182, which I regard as quite ponderous, especially in roll. The roll rate was very crisp, and the controls nicely harmonised. Empty weight around 1700 lbs, so around 300 lbs lighter than a new 182T.
The STOL ability, while not quite Super Cub league, was very impressive. I expect 300m farm strips are very doable in this ‘heavy’ taildragger.
This example had larger tyres and the Alaska Bushwheel tailwheel, but not full on tundra style main tyres. Accordingly cruise speed took a beating, and I estimate it is a 120KTAS tourer. With pizza cutting smaller tyres, probably closer to 130 KTAS.
Since this thread was first posted the early 180 scene, which used to be around 50-75k, has increased in value to 150k. The later 180 models, perhaps not as nice handling, are in the 200-250k range.
Posted just pre lockdown by a stalwart of the 195ers
https://www.plusoneflyers.org/fleet/gillespie-fleet
Cessna 180 and Great Lakes – Richard Bach would be proud :)
