AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008 - 96

50 years and 4,733 hours later VISIONARY PiperJet. 360 KTAS. 35,000 FT. 1,300 NM. Stellar performance. PIPER A 1958 Cessna Skylane, N4054D, had the honor of being the ﬁrst airplane to grace a cover of The AOPA Pilot magazine. N4054D has upheld the Cessna 182’s reputation as one of the best airplanes ever built by ﬁlling roles as a star in Cessna company advertising and in search-and-rescue missions in and around Idaho’s mountains. It has been sold seven times, has hangared in Missouri, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, and Idaho, and is still going strong. Cessna ﬂew 54D for nearly 300 hours in research and development projects, and featured her in advertising pamphlets before a ﬂying club in Missouri purchased her for $11,417 in 1959. The club later upgraded the avionics with two Narco Mk II Omnigators and a Tactair autopilot. During the late 1960s 54D changed hands three times. In November 1977 the FAA cited the owner for failing to sign and submit an updated, “Aircraft Registration Eligibility, Identiﬁcation, and Activity Report,” and revoked the certiﬁcate of registration. The airplane was re-registered and FAA records show a January 1979 sale to an individual in North Carolina. Less than a now possible to fly hundreds of miles without touching the control yoke and never vary from the desired track or cruise altitude. LUXURIOUS Meridian. 260 KTAS. 30,000 FT. 1,000 NM. Turboprop. Pressurized. PIPER POWERFUL Mirage. 213 KTAS. 25,000 FT. 1,300 NM. Turbocharged. Pressurized. PIPER year later 54D moved west after being sold to a new owner in Hines, Oregon. The new owner installed a new “T” conﬁguration instrument panel, an alternator, and a stack of new radios. 54D ﬂew the western skies for its new owner for eight years before being sold in May 1987 to its present owner, who took it home to Lewiston, Idaho. The current owner, Tom Rogers, installed many modiﬁcations such as a STOL kit, an extended baggage compartment, and an FM transceiver to assist in search-and-rescue missions for the Nez Perce County Air Posse and the Civil Air Patrol. In January 2008 there were 4,733 hours on the airframe. The Cessna has never had accident or incident recorded against it. —SWE The pilot of the 1958 airplane elected to land at Sacramento for lunch and fuel after being aloft for an hour and 40 minutes. The 2008 182 pilot’s operating handbook (POH) revealed that pilots could select power settings as high as 85 percent at 10,000 feet. For a more even comparison, let’s compare the new 182 when it’s being flown at the same power setting (71 percent) as the 1958 airplane. In this case it would ﬂy at 141 knots TAS and burn 12.9 gallons per hour. Setting aside 12 gallons for reserves yields a full fuel range of 819 nautical miles after five hours and 50 minutes aloft. In the last 50 years the world has changed, the flying environment has changed, and even the smallest steps in every ﬂight have changed. Paralleling all the changes are the improvements Cessna has incorporated into the 182. Based on this winning formula, there are pretty good odds that an AOPA Pilot editor may well sit down to write an article about the new 2058 182 in 50 more years. E-mail the author at steve.ells@ aopa.org. COMPELLING Matrix. 200 KTAS. 25,000 FT. 1,000 NM. Cabin-class. Six seats. PIPER The ﬂight Neither the 1958 Skylane nor the 2008 Skylane had any problem climbing out of Rogue River Airport in Medford to the 11,800-foot minimum en route altitude (MEA) required to head south over the Siskiyou Mountain Range, which rises up to mark the southern boundary of Oregon. To present a fair comparison, let’s have both pilots cruise at 10,000 feet msl as they ﬂy south over VORs at Red Bluff, Sacramento, Paso Robles, San Marcus, and on across the 54-nm overwater leg from the Ventura VOR to the final VOR at Santa Catalina Island. This routing covers 593 nautical miles. Figures from the 1958 owner’s manual show a true airspeed of 135 knots while burning 11.9 gallons per hour. Setting aside 10 gallons for fuel reserves from the 55-gallon usable fuel results in a full-fuel range at this power setting of three hours and 48 minutes, or 510 nautical miles. AOPA PILOT • 96 • MARCH 2008 VERSATILE Saratoga II TC. 187 KTAS. 20,000 FT. 950 NM. Six seats. Turbocharged. PIPER SMART Archer. 133 KTAS. 14,000 FT. All glass. Step in, then step up. PIPER Your Piper dealer can help you decide. piper.com | 866.FLY.PIPER Not pictured – Seneca V, Seminole, Arrow, Warrior III.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008

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