A friend of mine is going to bicycle from Düsseldorf throughout Europe during the summer and has made the preposition that I pick him up in Milano after spending some time at the Expo. Let’s ignore the issues with Bresso, which are being discussed in another thread, for now and focus on one issue:
He is going to want to bring his bicycle back home. I’m trying to figure out if fitting it into the airplane is a feasible idea. The bicycle frame (after dismantling the wheels) is 110 cm x 75 cm.
The largest plane I’ll have available is a C182, other options would be the C172 or Piper Archer III.
Obivously, trying it out is the best way to find out but that is not very practicable at the moment and I want to get an idea if it makes sense at all. The 182 POH is not very clear about the measurements of the baggage area with respect to the rear seats so I’m not sure if it fits.
Is removing the rear seats a good idea? Is this easily done on the aircraft mentioned above? Is that even legal with respect to changes to the W&B?
I think if you remove both front and back wheels you’ll be fine. I even have a bike bag for travel, and once both wheels are off and the frame is in there, it’s not that big. But it would probably help to remove one or both of the back seats.
The largest plane I’ll have available is a C182
Don’t worry or start worrying if the bike turns out to be a 6 cylinder motorbike with side car… You can also fold the rear bench (unless that feature is not available with your C182).
Is removing the rear seats a good idea? Is this easily done on the aircraft mentioned above? Is that even legal with respect to changes to the W&B?
Yes, a simple log book entry is enough. It is designed to be easily removed. I do it all the time. The W&B doesn’t change much because the bench is very lightweight. I just pretend my baggage to be lighter by the weight of the bench for the W&B. Without the rear bench, you can fit a mattress for a couple in the back. The C182 is huge.
The C303 I fly has one of the rear seats removed most of the time, and it can be installed / removed by simply sliding it on the seat rail, where it is secured with the pins from the adjustment mechanism.
The W&B calculation includes a “negative” weight at the loading station of that seat if flying with the seat removed.
Are logbook entries when a seat which is removable on rails really required?
Cobalt wrote:
Are logbook entries when a seat which is removable on rails really required?
Arguable but it’s commonly recommended. I don’t do it myself because it’s totally irrelevant. Whether the seat is present or not can be determined without looking in the lookbook.
The C182 rear bench is screwed on. You need to remove 5 screws. Requires the right tools to hold the nuts left and right in the front, a bit fiddly otherwise. It’s a really good cargo plane that way, I have it in regular service Europe → Africa 
Why take anything apart? If you got a C182, you could simply strap the bike to the outside – the airplane will fly! There aren’t many things you cannot do with a C182….. 
That´s also true for a 185….the Kiwi´s do it this way: http://www.adventureflightsgoldenbay.co.nz/Gallery.html#50
But I´m certain you won´t get EASA approval for this setup!
Way to go!!
I got a 26inch wheel size folding bike in a PA28 onto the back seat row (just about).
I’ve put a normal (non folding) full size road bicycle into the back of a Cessna 172 without removing the rear seats. Both wheels had to come off (the bike has quick release wheels) and an old sheet/tarp/etc. is required for the frame to stop the oily bits from making things dirty.
