Cessna 170 to Cessna 180

Early last month I purchased a 1966 Cessna 180H in CA.  I had been looking for the right one for almost two years often criss-crossing the country to check out a lead.  Last Dec in that pursuit, I came across (and fell in love with) a 52′ C170 which I ended up buying and flying home.  Although I had been flying since 95, this was my first airplane, and as a relatively low time (and even lower time TW) pilot, it was all completely new.

Thinking I would keep the airplane for a long long time, much was done to the bird as I was deeply inspired by several in the community as well as getting a great in-person look at N185GM whilst out at Beegles.  I drank from the fire hose as things moved rapidly along.  In the end, we had a one hell of an airplane.

Research into upgrading my C170 as well as the beginning thoughts of upgrading to a 180HP engine quickly set me back on the path of looking for a solid C180.  It was going to be hard to let the C170 go, especially after all the hard work, but I knew that if I even attempted to start spending more $$$ on the C170 with upgraded Garmin radios and GPS systems, I would be committed for sure.

It all happened pretty quick, but before I knew it, I was out looking at a C180. It had been for sale for at least three years and the price had come way down.  The A/C certainly had nothing special as far as avionics went, and the interior was pretty knackered, but it was a good, solid (relatively speaking as 50 yr old TW airplanes go) damage “free-ish” bird.  It was a good solid platform to start it all over again.

A good pre-buy confirmed my thoughts and before I knew it, papers were signed and I was on my way out to L.A. to fly the new machine back to Boston.