Why did you buy your 170?????

[pif_sonic]

I have a little story of why I bought my 170. I would love to hear why all of you bought your 170 and how long you have owned your 170.

My story of the 170 starts at the same time I purchased my 150D. I get the 150 back to Baker City (BKE) and show the wife. On the ramp next to my new pride and joy is a yellow and white 170A. My wife sees the yellow and white plane and says, “I like this one.” She likes yellow, she said it was cute. She does not even look at the 150 . Now on one hand I was heart broken because my wife was not interested in the new plane, on the other hand I knew some day I would be able to sell the wife on a bigger plane .

About 2 weeks after getting my ticket I surprised my wife with a trip to Jackpot NV. The weather was great and the flying was the best. This was the first long trip I took my wife on. The only thing she was upset about was I weighed her luggage before taking off from BKE. She had to leave three pairs of shoes, a hair dryer, two complete changes of clothes, and a jacket. Lets not be crazy I let her bring the lingerie.

On the flight home my lovely wife says to me, “I think we need a bigger plane.” My response was, “No honey, this one will last a few more years, it is almost paid off.” She again said in that loving yet stern voice, “No we need a bigger plane.” I said, “Well I will start looking.” And of course inside I was like, WOOOHOOO A BIGGER PLANE .

I looked at several straight tail 172’s. I wanted the straight tail with manual flaps. So the options of what plane to buy are a little scarce. Well I never really considered the 170 because it was a tail wheel and I had heard a lot of horror stories about tail wheels. The 150 got sold and I was without a plane. The yellow and white 170 was brought back from it’s summer home and left at BKE for it’s winter home. I heard the owner wanted to sell the 170. I started looking at it and really liked the plane. I talked to a lot of people about the advantages of a tail dragger. Every tail wheel pilot I spoke with said buy a tail wheel. Every training wheel pilot I spoke with said they would never buy a tail wheel.

This went on for about a month. I brought my wife out to the airport and wanted her opinion. I told my wife I needed some type of sign to let me know this was the right decision. We had looked at a lot of 172’s and found some really nice ones at a decent price.

The only thing my wife wanted to know as how much luggage cold she take on a trip. I was back looking at the tail. I looked up and the N number was right there. 1288D . Well we use 12-code for the radio procedures at my work, and the code 12-88 means off duty. What are the chances of finding a plane that you really like with an N number of 1288, AKA “OFF DUTY.” Now keep in mind we had looked at this plane countless time over the past three years and never put two and two together. It was just one of those things that just hits you. I had even flown in this plane a few times with the previous owner.

I brought my wife back to the tail and showed her the N number; she recognized the 1288 after a few minutes. The decision was made right then if the plane was in good shape it would be ours. I made an offer to the owner and within a few weeks the deal was done and we owned 1288D. We have now owned her for 1 year. I am very pleased with the decision to buy a 170 .

[yukontools]

My parents wanted to move to Alaska to be closer to some grandkids so I was asked to build them a house. "If you build it they will come." I found a lot that they purchased and they began drawing up plans for their house. They said check with your wife to make sure they are welcome close to family before we build. Not a problem for my wife. My dad got what a deal on a 172 so he told me I'll trade you a plane to build my house. I told him I would build it for free if tha meant getting them up here. I have a friend that is a shop teacher that wanted to learn to fly so my dad suggested that I ask him if he was interested in helping me. He obliged. I willshorten the story up here. We had our 172 in for annual and I called a friend who used the same mechanic we used in Fairbanks for our AP home number as it was on a weekend, My friend told me he was on his way over to Chena Marina to see the AP and to take his 170B off the float pond. I asked Craig when he was going to sell his plane. He asked if I was interested and even without seeing the plane I was. After all it was a 170. He gave me a price and I talked it over with my wife and she was fine with it. Now Craig is trying to talk me out of it as I feel seperation anxiety is setting in. He said it is real "Bushy" so I asked him to explain. No paint-I said great-,no carpet-I said great-, bare bones-I said great. THe more he talked the more I liked. I asked him if he had any pictures he could send me and he said no. I work in a school in the Bush and he asked if we had a library. Obviously we did and he said find the book "The Bushrat Governor" about Jay Hammond and there are two pictures of it in there. I asked him why the pictures were in his book. Craig told me he used to own it. So there you have it. We have owned 2769A for almost two years and it has a ton of history from flying beaver patrol ot of McGrath with the Wildlife Officers in the 50's to the former governor of Alaska using it as his personal jet. We got Edo 2000's, Federal 2500 wheel skis, and some Tundra tires with the deal. I have been thinking about polishing it up but that means you can't fly while you are polishing. I flew the other day at -10 and am still amazed at the performance of an 180HP on cold days at 152 feet of sea level. No plans to ever get rid of it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :D

[k0al]

About 40 years ago I had accumulated maybe 150 hours in a 170B hauling skydivers. We operated out of a 1800 foot grass strip. While the climb rate was never impressive, I was impressed that at least I could get out of there with three jumpers and myself even on warm summer days.

Fast forward about 35 years. My youngest son, who happens to work for the Galena, AK school district tells me that he is thinking about buying an airplane.

I mention this to my barber (homebuilder and one of the skydivers I used to haul) who tells me that there is a plane stored at his place (country strip) that would be just right for him. It is a Cessna 170A, out of license for something like 7 years but appearing to be a nice airplane. I arrange to meet the owner, go over the logs, take a few pictures and talk generalties of pricing. I relay all this to the son. The son comes down from Alaska with his wife (who was expecting child #2) and looks the plane over. They eventually decide the 170 really doesn't meet their needs and pass on the plane.

A few months go by and I keep thinking about this particular plane. I have flown and owned other planes but I always liked the 170B I had flown. Since 90% of my flying is solo and I knew it to be miserly on fuel, I decided that what the heck, I might as well buy it.

I contacted the owner and eventually struck a deal. That has been 2 years and about 120 hours of flying enjoyment ago. We won't talk about the hundreds of hours required to polish it (it had never been painted save the original red accent stripes) nor the $1,000s I've spent on it to bring it to the level of reliability that I wanted.

The son, he still hasn't bought a plane!! His wife at least did start working on her Private license, so all is not lost!


Al Culbert, N5455C

[iowa]

very nice stories!
i bought mine in 1987
from a texas millionare.
flew my c140 down from iowa
and traded plus some cash.
it was a real experience
wheeling and dealing with him.
iowa

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Well it all started in 1990 when I decided to get a fixed wing license because I would never be able to afford a helicopter. Things where moving along with my training when the instructors plane became unavailable. I decided if I was ever going to get a fixed wing license I'd have to buy my own plane.

So off I went and bought a well used but still good CHEROKEE 140.

I was pleased with the plane and my wife who was a little scared of flight though it was good because she felt like she was sitting on the wing like a park bench and that made her feel better. OK honey what ever it takes.

All was well with the Cherokee and I soon had my license. My wife and I planned our first fly-out to a fly-in. Everything was going well on the trip getting to and parking at the fly-in. Then the sun came out and it got hot. Ever try to sit in the shade of a Cherokee wing. That's not happening. You just don't look cool.

That's when we looked over at the plane next to us with a party going on under the shade of the wing. And what kind of a plane was that. Well it was a beautiful PIPER PACER. My wife says to me, why didn't we buy one of those?

Several years later still owning the Cherokee I had the opportunity to buy a Clipped Wing Cub which I did. Know we had our high wing portable shade to take to the fly-in's and all was well. Ever try to carry luggage for two for a week end fly-in in a J-3, with two people on board?

Well by this time I'd accumulated a few hours flying around in several 170s friends owned as well as a Maule M4 and a Taylor Craft BD-12. We needed a four seat tail dragger to compliment our J3 for those longer trips requiring more than a change of underwear. Parking in the boonies with the spam cans in the Cherokee just wasn't cutting it.

So off we went to look for a PIPER PACER. That's right a Pacer was our first choice. But the reality that we had no hanger and we would never be able to afford a hanger set it. We where also looking at 170s.

Well we found what we thought was a good deal on a 170 before we found a Pacer or a Stinson and there you have it. Maybe some day I'll build a Pacer look-a-like if I don't build a Mustang II first. But as long as I can afford the gas for my 170 I'll probably own it.

[Bill Hart]

Well shortly after earning my privet ticket I want to buy an airplane and had a wife that was willing to support me in this endeavor. I thought that the only thing I could afford was a 150 so after a little searching I found a nice little 150 M and flew the heck out of the thing. At the same time I had a friend who owned a Cub and he thought me how fly tail draggers. Well a couple of years passed and my wife and I now had 2 kids and a 70 pound dog so a bigger plane was in order. I found a partner and we bought a 182. After owning the 182 for a while my partner retired from his job and wanted to quit flying and I couldn’t afford the thing by myself. When I started looking for another airplane that I could afford to own my self I was looking at 172’s but I wanted something that would make people stop and say “Nice airplane” at the fuel pump. And let’s face it anyone can pull up to a fuel pump in a 172 so that is how I decided on a 170.

The funny story is that the friend with the Cub suggested that if I had a classic airplane then I needed a classic truck to drive to the airport in, so when shopping for a 170 I wound up with a 1950 Chevy pick up as well.

Great topic by the way!

[HA]

once upon a time when I was dating this gal she wanted to learn to fly, and her family had a nice '56 172 (I know, I know) that they'd had forever except for a brief period when they had traded it for a combine. so I taught her to fly and after that she still liked me so we got married. and the plane came with her - how cool is that . of course that means my maintenance costs includes jewelry sometimes.

that allowed me to fly the family Super Cub too until we sold it a couple years ago. I have flown real 170's too, in fact when one of my buddies wrecked his (moral - don't make a fence out of old telephone poles at the end of your ranch runway) and needed another plane to use while his was being rebuilt, he enlisted me to fly him down to look at a nice 170 in Cabool, MO. It was as advertised, and so he bought it and flew it home to NW SD to check cows.

that 170 from Cabool was purchased from a fella who I think was a past president of this organization, I cannot remember his name (real nice folks) but maybe someone here knows him?

[Velvet]

That's Bob & Carol Coats. ("Where the hell is Cabool?" They used to have patches with that).
Yes, he's a past president, and you won't meet nicer folks anywhere.

Velvet

[Curtis Brown]

My 170 has been on the field at Tupelo, Ms longer than any other plane. It was a club plane here for many years. I remember reading an ad for a part in the newspaper when when I first came to Tupelo in 1990. I went out and looked at it. It was very basic and needed some TLC.

A few years later I became friends with a pilot. He and I did some flying together. Soon after, he bought a partnership in this very 170. Later another part came for sale and Frank encouraged me to buy in. I did and we had a wonder time with this 170. I had only a couple hundred hours time and no tailwheel time. We had three other partners and they were very inactive. Frank and I made a few improvements in radio and transponder and went all over in the place. Even the Bahama Islands.

Frank died in a plane crash a few year later and I took over his part. I was nearly the only one flying it and no one wanted to spend any money on it. Then when it needed a couple of cylinders we got two of the partners out by paying their part of the bill plus a little payoff.
My other partner was flying it less than 10hrs a year and I was flying about 100 hrs a year. I really wanted to make improvements, she needed lots of attention, many years of just do enough to be airworthy.
Anyway, when my partner went out a got a older model V-tail I figured soon I would be able to buy him out too. Sure enough once he annualled the V-tail I made him and offer.
Once she was all mine: Off comes the engine for overhaul, and the airframe was gone over very well, all those years of "just a nuff to get by" erased. Many, many improvements $$$. Now she has 450 hours on the overhaul, new paint and interior, IFR panel and much more. Since buying out the last partner five years ago I have put more than 90K into her. I know that seems crazy but that does include everything, insurance, hangar and gas. But most if it is restoration cost. I can only justify it when I figure I have flown her over a 1200 hours now and she is paid for and she is mine all mine and you should see her.

[doug8082a]

Ever since I new what an airplane was I wanted to fly vintage aircraft. I grew up in Mansfield, MA and made my parents stop at or drive by the airport at every opportunity. I spent many years peering through that fence. At the age of 32 I finally got my pilot’s license at that same airport – I was finally on the OTHER side of the fence! But, flying 172s and Warriors was just not fulfilling my aviation desires.

I joined the local EAA chapter and started meeting other folks on the field. Our treasurer was a gentleman in his late 70’s who happened to own a C195. Not really knowing what a C195 was, I wandered by his hangar one day when he was working on it. Wow! It was gorgeous! As I stood there awestruck, a glow surrounded the plane… angels sang in my head… my knees grew weak… someday, somehow I HAD to have that plane!

I knew that was too much plane for a newly minted pilot, so I resolved to find a tailwheel plane I could spend a few years with until this gentleman was ready to sell the 195. While cruising the web for C195 pictures and info I came a cross photos of a C170. Hey! This is cool… a lot like a C195 without the round engine. I researched more and quickly discovered that this was the perfect plane… tailwheel, 4 seats, take trips, etc. And so the grand scheme was hatched… by a 170, build time, and then buy the 195 when he inevitably sold it.

One day while out building cross country time in a Warrior, I dropped into Fulton County, NY for a stop. There on the field was a guy changing the oil in his 170. We got to talking, I told him about wanting to buy one and he said his was for sale. If I could hang around a bit, we could go up after he finished the oil change. So I hung around, we went up, she flew great, obviously needed some updating, but nothing that kept me from flying “right now”.

I took his name/number and a spec sheet on the plane and left. When I got home I threw the info on the kitchen counter where it sat for several weeks. I decided the keep looking for a 170 to see if I could find another “local” 170 or at least something else to compare to. After about 6 weeks and not much luck (and a little impatience ) I called him back. Yes it was still for sale. We made arrangements for him to bring it to Mansfield, I had it checked out, and we had a deal.

So there I was, a happy C170 owner and proud that part one of my grand scheme of owning a C195 was complete. Over the next couple years I flew the 170 quite a bit and REALLY grew to love the plane. About 4 years later, the 195 finally did come up for sale and the owner looked me up. He wanted it to stay at Mansfield if possible and with someone who would care for it. The price was a steal at 30%-40% under the current market price. But, I couldn’t swing two planes and buying the 195 would mean selling the 170 and after all that time flying it, I couldn’t bring myself to part with it. I passed on the 195 and it went to Wichita. I kept the 170 and never regretted it.

[N1478D]

I spent years after work and on weekends walking around airports with a camera taking pictures of airplanes. The Grand Prairie airport was a couple of miles from work and most of the time spent looking at airplanes was there. Eventually, I moved to within a mile of the airport so I could walk there anytime day or night.

Usually a picture or two of each airplane was enough. But, one time I took a complete roll of one airplane. Now this is what an airplane should look like. It was so pretty. Didn’t have a clue what it was, but so far, this was IT.

So much time was spent at the Grand Prairie airport that eventually aircraft owners would offer a ride to me. During those wonderful flights I discovered that these weren’t multi millionaires. Hmmmm! After asking a lot of questions, it seemed that with some sacrifices, an airplane could be owned by an average income person.

Also, there was a very nice person at the airport named Bob. Bob had been captain of Air Force One, a bush pilot, and trained the airline captains. He was considered to be THE PILOT in the area. Bob flew a very nice 170. I went back to my picture collection, and there it was. The 36 pictures I had taken of a beautiful airplane years ago was a 170.

One January, at the top of my list to accomplish that year was to earn a Private Pilots license. I went to Bob and asked him to be my instructor. Bob explained that he only instructed advanced pilots, but he would be glad to fill in any time I needed some extra instruction. After weeks of politely asking Bob if he had changed his mind to be my instructor, and hearing that he had not, I was getting a little impatient. Bob was the best, and with a young daughter who would be flying with me, my mind was set that it was going to be Bob. It was obvious I would be a safer and more knowledgeable pilot with him teaching me. Bob had a C150 for sale. Me being 6’4”, it was a little small, but what the heck. “Hey Bob, if I buy your C150 will you be my instructor?” He finally gave in and I became his first primary student.

I had shared with him my love of C170’s and that eventually that is what I wanted to own. He said there wasn’t a better airplane for what my needs and use would be. He had sold his C170 and bought a C180 while I had been working on getting him to be my instructor. It seemed like I was a few years away financially from being an airplane owner, and didn’t even consider owning an airplane at that time. But, I was willing to buy the C150 if that was what it took to have him as my instructor.

About half way through the flight training, and really enjoying the C150, one day while in an important meeting at work Bob called and said I needed to come to the airport and see what he had. Very politely, explained that I was in an important meeting with my boss, his boss, and his boss and it was impossible. But, after hanging up the phone, I thought to myself, Bob has never called me at work like that, it must really be something. So, it was explained that the phone call was an emergency and I had to leave. Drove across Dallas and over to Bob’s hangar at Grand Prairie, and there he was, washing 1478D. A jet owner had bought it because it was corrosion free, had a low time engine, he had it painted, put in a panel mount GPS, etc. and then got in a big fight while it was at the upholstery shop, threw his hands up and Bob bought it. No interior, it had been stripped of everything inside, all of the interior metal parts were in a large box. It was covered in dust from sitting at the shop while the owner and the upholsterer fought. The wind was blowing about 40 knots that day and Bob was barely able to be up on the ladder while he was washing her. “Can we go fly her?” I asked as Bob glanced over at the wind sock. “Joe, Bruce is on his way home to get permission from his wife. He’s going to buy it, I talked to him after I called you!” “Can we go fly her?” I asked again. Bob was a heck of a salesman, I wasn’t sure whether there was a Bruce or not. I didn’t have a license, no tailwheel time, and wasn’t sure I could afford the C150. But, boy, was something ever telling me inside my head – YOU GOTTA BUY THIS AIRPLANE! Bob put the two front seats in the airplane, and off we went. Once in the air he gave me the controls and that was it. “How much you asking for her Bob?” “Okay, will you include an annual at that price Bob?” He thought a long time about that, and the upcoming landing in the gusting high winds. “Okay Joe, we will have Sal do an annual, it’s included in the price.”

There I was, two airplanes, and no pilot license.

Two years later, I landed 1478D at a Pecan Plantation flyin. This guy walks up to me real fast as I am getting out and says “So, you’re the guy that didn’t even have a license who bought this plane out from underneath me!” “Are you Bruce?” I asked. So there was a Bruce! He had hurried back to the airport after his wife had given him the go ahead to be told by Bob that a guy without any tailwheel time, and just a students license had bought it 20 minutes ago.

Over 900 hours later the grin is still just as big every time I climb in her to go flying. It was meant to be!

[170C]

Hi Velvet. Good to see your post and yes there isn't anybody any nicer than Bob & Carol
I wasn't going to go on about how I ended up with my bird since its not a 170 , but since HA in Fargo did, I guess one more 172 story won't hurt The reason I am flying is that my wife, Becky, gave me a check good for a good number of dual hours back in 1982 and said , "All you do is work on old museum airplanes, read about and talk about airplanes and here is a Christmas present. You need to take some lessons before you get too old" Well at my advanced age of 38 I had to agree with her Of course she didn't realize that she was opening Pandora's Box or letting the fox in the henhouse I learned to fly in a '48 C-140 & a week before my check ride I bought a '66 C-182---boy was there a lot of difference in those two planes, but I told her that with that plane we could go visit parents, relatives. vacation, etc. Seemed logical to me After a couple of years a decision was made to sell the 182 & a '50 model C-140A moved into its place. (A lot more economical plane to operate.) That lasted until I got the urge again for 4 seats and of course NOW she, our daughter and I could ALL 3 go to places again So I sold the 140, and began looking for a 170. Lots of them to look at, but I couldn't find one I thought I could afford to buy that didn't need a LOT of TLC =$$$$. By now I was a member of the C-170 Assn, but didn't really know anyone, so I didn't ask for any input into 170's On one of my many trips to airports, looking at what might be available, I stopped in at Northwest Regional Apt & saw this blue & silver taildragger sitting outside a hangar. At first I thought it to be a C-180, but upon closer inspection determined it was a '56 C-172 that had been converted. The next day I drove back to the airport, found the owner and asked if he wanted to sell the plane. He said yes and the rest is history as they say. September 1989 I acquired N6888A and we have been putting up with one another since. Since Cessna took one 170, pulled the tail surfaces off and put on the tail surfaces that would soon become the C-172, and temporarily called it a Cessna 170C, I have sort of adopted that model designation for 888A. It has been a fun plane to own and fly even if it causes me to be called Ole Pokey This is my story and I am sticking to it Cessna 170 folks are nice enough to let a "straight tail" park among them most of the time. Right Harold

[Bill Hart]

Awesome sorties but there are some noticeably absent………….. George?, Mile’s?

[AR Dave]

I guess the fact that I didn’t grow up around them might have been the reason I was never fascinated with planes. Two weeks after college I went to DFW and took my first plane ride to Soldotna, Alaska. Seven months after that my bride and I were driving up the Alcan. We were excited about moving to Alaska where we intended to hunt, fish, and live off the land. It didn’t take long to realize that we would be spending a lot of time in planes. Later I became very familiar with the back of a Super Cub in the hunting business. Traci and I traveled a lot just exploring and visiting friends, all over Alaska, especially during the long winter months. Finally I had become a licensed big game guide and it was costing us a fortune to fly back and forth to our camp, with supplies, clients, or just to set up. I didn’t like being stranded with clients for 10 days either. Once while assistant guiding in Western Alaska, I had laid down on a landing strip and signaled a Super Cub to land and take my non English speaking German hunter, who had cut his hand nearly off, out for medical help. It was apparent that if we were to continue this life style, we would have to get a plane.

The day after Christmas I called a flight instructor and asked him if there were some books I could start reading to learn about flying. He told me to come down the next day and start lessons. Well OK, I guess I can do that. I didn’t fall in love with flying in those first few lessons like everyone else seems too. But finally the day came for my solo. After my instructor got out of the 152, I did my three touch and goes and he motioned that I could fly away on my own. I broke pattern and realized that no one was telling me where, how, and when. I’ll never forget that moment when I realized I could go up, down, right, left, anywhere I wanted. It was then that I fell in love with flying. At that same moment I saw 3 moose, so down I went to start an hour long tear buzzing critters, Traci at our house, and Jenny at the FSS. Back at the flight school I told my instructor that I just had to have one (plane). He pointed to the 1955, 170B, right in front of the trainer plane and said he thought the owner would sell it. It was a nice plane but I wasn’t sure about the antique looking tail, so I looked around for a 180. The 180’s were priced around $40,000 so I decided I could live with the round tail. Now that I’m older I have more of an appreciation for round and my 170, the first plane I saw after my solo.

[jrenwick]

I owned a 1955 C170, N2947D, for a few years in the 90s, and always missed it after I sold it. (I see from the FAA database that it has finally made it to Alaska!) I bought that one because I'd been flying 172s and Skylanes, and I found the 172 had just the right feel for me. But I didn't want to buy anything with a nose wheel, so....

After flying my J3 to Florida in 2001 and then Alaska in 2003, I decided I needed a cross-country airplane again.

I thought about a 195. They're absolutely awesome, but riding in one didn't do it for me. Seemed like too much airplane for me.

So I found another 1955 C170, and now I'm happy again! The J3 is now mostly on floats and skis, and the 170 is my cross-country airplane. If you can't afford a Cirrus, it's an awfully comfortable cruiser.

Best Regards,

John