The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Well I started out with a Cessna 140A That I bought Disassembled in 1980 fresh out of A&P school. I was working on the Lear Fan in Stead Nv at the time and it took 2 ½ years to get it flying. I had that plane up until it was lost in a terrible storm and flood in late 1996. Other wise I don’t think I could have parted with it for another plane. I took my limited settlement and came up with a plan to find a 170 with a good airframe but in need of restoration. After looking for a long while I heard of a 170 in Elko NV from the FAA that said it has just been sitting there for years and years. I found out who owned it by calling the airport FBO and then started a dialog with the owner on the Internet. Who when he got married 8 years prior had to quit flying it. Right in the middle of negotiations when I had made my earnest offer I lost contact with the owner I licked my wounds gave up on buying a 170. Prices started rising fast on 170’s right about then, as we know looking at what they go for now! When the owner contacts me an says my offer is agreeable if I’m still interested. I flew it home on 6/01/99. At the time in 1980 I wanted a stock 120 and found a loaded 140A. Looking for the 170 I wanted a stock Aor B model and found a loaded 170B. Which I intend to modify to the max and keep forever. Stock is just not in the cards I guess. Lance

Miles,

Yes, I did fly with your Dad - only a few times, though. Sorry I mixed up
Bill Hart's message with yours! Russ

I bought my '48 as a dream come true in 1990. My brother and I had always liked anything to do with aviation. I guess we both came by it honestly from our father. A Kansas dirt farmer who took his first plane ride around 1955. I remember them flying over the farm in a dark colored high-wing tail-dragger, I was about four yoa. We used to look at his aviation scrapbook he made during/after WWII. The picture of the Spruce Goose with two or three small planes setting on each wing still comes to mind. (BTW, I worked with a man who was mentored by one of Hughes’ throttle mech's on the only flight of the Goose. He said the actual reason Hughes flew it was because the gov't was canceling the contract and it stipulated payment for development costs would only be made if it was demonstrated that the plane would actually fly.) We'd made toy planes out of cedar shingles as boys growing up. Then launch 'em using strips of inner tube rubber. I still remember watching jets dog-fighting overhead and finding aluminum chaff strips on the farm.
My brother got his license at 17 yoa and would have gone military but didn't have the eyes for it. I took my first plane ride shortly thereafter. Ten years later I had a wife and a fresh private ticket in my pocket. We talked about buying a plane but they were just too expensive. We had moved to Dallas, I had an A&P cert and loved working on planes about as much as flying them. Sometimes I think more. I'd go by Redbird Airport (RBD) on occasion and had noticed a C170 fuselage setting on the grass in a corner by itself for several years. "What a waste!" I'd think to myself.
Several years later in 1989 I was asked by a family friend to check out the repair work on his fathers C421 following a gear collapse accident while passing through Dallas. It was being repaired at a RBD facility. A guy I went to A&P school with was working on the C421. During our conversation I commented about the C170 being used as a lawn ornament. Turns out he was part owner. The wings, interior and other big pieces were in the overhead of the hangar. The engine over in the corner lying on a tire with all the cylinders off. Some piece/parts here, some there. It had been in that condition about four years. "Are you interested in selling it?" I asked. "Yes, we've been thinking about it." "How much?" "$5K". "Too much, I'll give you $4K right now." "No, we want $5K that's what we have in it." Well, let me know if you change your mind." That was the end of it. In the meantime I hired him away from the C421 repair shop. I came walking into the shop one day probably six months later and he asked me if I was still interested in his C170. "Sure, will you take the $4K?" "Yes, tax time is coming and I need some cash." It took until August (1990) to get the paperwork straightened out so I would buy it.
Towed the fuselage behind my truck on Loop 12 nearly half way around Dallas. Trailered all the other parts home and started taking it apart. Priorities changed when our first unplanned, unable-to-have-one child came along. Then a second. Surprise, surprise.
It gathered dust in my garage/shed/shop for 10 years. Finally it was finish it or sell it. Took 18 months to paint, assemble and get four field approvals through the FSDO. As I have written previously here, I put it in the air May 2005 after it and I had gathered dust for about 25 years. Last year I made the mistake of telling a friend over the dinner table how much I had in it when he asked. My wife groaned but has never complained. "It's your life's dream.” she has said more than once. Dang, should have given her a heads-up on that one. Amazing that the new engine cylinders cost more than the whole plane.
No regrets. I don't get to fly as much this year as last. Out of town too much. I'm still not comfortable with high crosswind landings. But every time I go flying, often by myself, I marvel at the fact that I am flying and am in my own airplane. Just wish I could have taken Dad flying in it. He helped shoot some rivets in it while visiting his first newborn grandchild.

Steve

I fly one of the largest jet transports in the world for a living. At home, when I fly a light aircraft, I never travel anywhere.....I'm sick of being gone from home.
So, I wanted a taildragger for the sport of it....and I had 45K to play with. The 170 fit my needs.
R

I started in a Tylorcraft till it was crashed by a Stearman. Then I continued my lessons in a Champ until my 170 was bought to replace the Taylorcraft. The owner got tired of little incidents happening and decided to sell. I almost didn't get it, but wrangeled a deal with the owner because I flew it and it was a unique plane. I am so glad I did because it has been a very good and inexpensive plane to maintain after I refurbished it.

John

In 1988 I was a "second officer"(flight engineer) flying overseas from Canada. Before getting my Airline job, I had experience flying numerous single, and multi-engine aircraft. Piston, turbo-prop, and jet experience wetted my appetite for flying, but starting postions at most major airlines were in the "back seat". I knew that a flying position would be years away, so I bought an aircraft that would keep my flying skills alive.
Having flown RC scale models extensively in my younger years, I knew a taildragger was going to be more challenging (and fun).
The 170 was my first choice as 4 seats, and all-metal construction made the most sense. I ended up flying as second officer 11+ years, but when the upgrade to first officer came (on the 747 classic), it was a piece of cake, thanks to the currency the 170 gave me).
Now as Captain on an Airbus 320, I know the 170 was an excellent choice. It is a well rounded aircraft, that will never leave a pilot feeling bored.
Cheers Eric

I started out with a Mooney M10, the progressed through a TriPacer, Cessna 140A, Taylorcraft F21B and a Citabria 7GCBC. I was actually looking for an RV, but was having no luck finding one that met my standards. On a fluke, I called about a 170B that had been advertised.

The plane sounded too good to be true (1200TT, no damage history, only 6 owners, all original, etc, etc) but I figured I'd take a look. I'd always admired the 170s but had never come across the right one at the right time. Well, within 5 minutes of seeing this one I was ready to write a check! A year later, I finally found the right RV. Unfortunatley, I couldn't keep 2 planes so the 170 had to go. I'm proud to have been able to own her for the short time I did.

russfarris wrote:Bill, your Dad wouldn't have been Sherman Hart, would it?

In my 727-200 days as a flight engineer with Piedmont, I flew with Captain Hart many times. He was a real gentleman and a true airman.

I remember having to stop for fuel in Las Vegas from Charlotte to San Francisco (the 727 was a marginal coast to coast machine) with Captain Hart - in the short 20 minute turn he managed to find the time to go into the terminal and play a few slot machines! Russ Farris

No Russ, My Dad is Sterling Hart and he didn't fly for Piedmont. He did however fly for American.

Why did I buy my C-170????

Because that was all the money I had!

I've busted it twice, and each time it has cost me more to fix it than I originally paid for it.

It's one of those famous "No damage history" airplanes.

Fortunately one of its best, and most redeeming, features is its resielience.

Well! I'm damn glad to hear you didn't hurt it!

I was 22 years old in 1973 and had been flying a 65hp Taylorcraft BC-12-D for about two years and was having a great time with it. I had passed my Private check ride about a year earlier and was finding a 4-place plane would really come in handy. I had no idea about Cessna taildraggers. I was looking at TriPacers and C-172s but just couldn't get excited about a tricycle gear airplane.

Then one day a 1951 C-170A landed at O'brien Airpark, 20 miles south of Dallas, where I had learned to fly and kept the Taylorcraft. I thought it was the most beautiful plane I had ever seen. New red, black, and white paint with matching tuck and roll interior, a huge 145hp engine, and of course, a tailwheel. I was smitten by the plane. Then, a friend of mine stepped out of the 170 and saw me staring at it. He hollered over at me,"It's for sale if you want to buy it".

I couldn't resist. We started dealing right then and worked a trade-in of my Taylorcraft into the deal. We shook on it with the understanding I didn't have the rest of the money but would try to get it. I really could not afford the plane, being a broke college student at the time, but that didn't stop the credit union from loaning me the money. I went back to my friend with the rest of the cash and he flew my Taylorcraft off into the sunset, literally, with no lights.

There I was, standing next to an airplane I had never flown and didn't get a pre-buy, annual inspection or even a once-over by the local mechanic. I wasn't concerned at all about its condition. It looked good and my friend said it was in good shape. I lucked out and it really was in good shape. It only needed routine maintenance the whole time I owned it.

I was impatient to get it in the air but it was too late to take it up that day, I had to wait. Another friend kind-of checked me out the next week. The springy gear was hard to get used to after the Cubs and Taylorcraft I had flown. It was a full 50 hours before I really felt comfortable flying it. Wheel landings were especially hard but I finally mastered them. By that time I had a total of about 100 hours. I had to eat a lot of beans and cornbread for a few years but it was all well worth it.

In the next 11 years I flew that plane all over North America from Texas to Alaska, for several years with nothing but a single Nav-Com 300 radio that sometimes worked. I didn't always know where I was but never considered myself lost. I sure had my share of adventures.

The 170 was always an honest airplane and it always did the job without fail, right up to the day I sold it, after moving to Alaska and buying a C-180.

22 years later I bought it back from the same guy I sold it to. That was a happy day for me. It still has the same paint job and interior done in 1968. The firewall forward and instrument panel has been completely overhauled with new radios, paint, and interior to go. It still flies like a dream, smooth as silk, just like I remember. I won't be selling it again anytime soon.
Richard

p.s. Notice we're flying IFR in the instrument panel picture, just in case, with the new engine, in Alaska in the winter.

Some recent pictures:

When I was 11, in 1950, Dad and I went to Wichitaw to pick up his new 170. He flew it until 1976, when he couldn't pass his physical any more. It sat until 1985, when He decided to sell it. I couldn't let it go, it had been in the family too long. I sold my Cherokee and bought the 170 from him.
He has since passed away (1998), and he still flys with me in that 170.
He had a severe stroke in 1994, and due to caring for him, I let my medical drop in 1996. After his death I was going to pick it up again, when my Wife developed brain cancer. She died in 2002. I have since remarried, and my new wife wants to see the 179 flying again. It's now in for annual, and then will go for a repaint. I'm going to get my medical and we'll (the three of us) be back in the air! Oh yes, my wife rode in the 170 when she was 10, and is ready for more!

I hope you intend to keep it painted as it was original? (Great story!)

bsdunek wrote:When I was 11, in 1950, Dad and I went to Wichitaw to pick up his new 170. He flew it until 1976, when he couldn't pass his physical any more. It sat until 1985, when He decided to sell it. I couldn't let it go, it had been in the family too long. I sold my Cherokee and bought the 170 from him.
He has since passed away (1998), and he still flys with me in that 170.
He had a severe stroke in 1994, and due to caring for him, I let my medical drop in 1996. After his death I was going to pick it up again, when my Wife developed brain cancer. She died in 2002. I have since remarried, and my new wife wants to see the 179 flying again. It's now in for annual, and then will go for a repaint. I'm going to get my medical and we'll (the three of us) be back in the air! Oh yes, my wife rode in the 170 when she was 10, and is ready for more!

Very sorry to hear about your losses. Very happy that you kept the 170 in the family, bet your Dad is really smiling up there!

This thread has generated such wonderful stories, it sure has been a pleasure reading them.

I know of a person who was diagnosed a few months ago with terminal cancer. They were told by the doctors that they would be on chemo to the end, which was probably 6 months to 2 years. The cancer wasn't caught untill it had spread just about everywhere, liver, colon, stomach, glands, and other places. This person started the strongest, latest available chemo treatments. On the good days between the chemo treatments this person went to their hangar and either rubbed their 170 or flew it. Between the good medicine of the 170 and the good chemo medicine the doctors and nurses are now talking to this person about the chemo ending in a few months, all of the tumors are shrinking.

The 170 is such a GREAT airplane! Whenever I have rented a 172 or Piper, I always miss the 170. The other planes fly well and do the job, just not anything like the 170. Their controls are stiffer, and the feedback is much much less. As I get closer to the ground in the 170 it really starts talking, making me feel like I am part of the airframe. The only thing I can compare it to is a very rewarding slow dance to good music with the right partner.

N1478D wrote: This thread has generated such wonderful stories, it ...sure has been a pleasure reading them.

I know of a person who was diagnosed a few months ago with terminal cancer. They were told by the doctors that they would be on chemo to the end, which was probably 6 months to 2 years. The cancer wasn't caught untill it had spread just about everywhere, liver, colon, stomach, glands, and other places. This person started the strongest, latest available chemo treatments. On the good days between the chemo treatments this person went to their hangar and either rubbed their 170 or flew it. Between the good medicine of the 170 and the good chemo medicine the doctors and nurses are now talking to this person about the chemo ending in a few months, all of the tumors are shrinking.
...

Now THAT'S a GOOD STORY!!!!