Ag plane for recreational flying
Dale
with while I work on a homebuilt project. My A&P is constantly
suggesting (with great enthusiasm) a Cessna 188 AgWagon. All metal,
tailwheel, constant speed prop, aerobatic and can be had for around
$30k he says. Sounds like a little more fun than the Luscombes and
Cessna 140's I've been looking at.
Anyone know if this or another "crop-duster" variety would make a
decent "weekend loop and roller"?
Jay Honeck
I have no personal experience with aerobatic flying. However, living in
Iowa, I get to see a LOT of Ag-Cats flying.
I guarantee that NOTHING looks more fun (or more dangerous) than flying one
of those big ol' crop-dusters. Man, if you can really find a good one for
$30K, they sure look like a great ride!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Warrior N33431
B. Jensen
Dale's talking about an AgWagon, not an AgCat. The AgWagons were built by
Cessna. I believe the AgCat was / is built by Grumman. The strange thing
about Ag planes is they smell like herbicides and insecticides all their
lives. Not exactly that "new car smell"! (I used to work at an FBO with
aerial applicators)
As far as aerobatics go, I don't think an AgWagon would make a very good acro
mount. The AgCat, on the other hand, will perform aerobatics OK. (ie, Gene
Soucy's acro / wing walking act with Teresa Stokes) Remember though that
Gene's AgCat is "modified".
You do see a fair number of old Piper Pawnees at glider clubs and on the
florida coast pulling banners. However, I haven't really seen many old
AgWagons / AgTrucks flying around except for their intended purpose. Since
9-11, there may be more requirements to owning an Ag plane...I don't know?
BJ
Rick Durden
I was not aware the 188 was certificated in the aerobatic category.
My recollection was that they were in the restricted category, so I
don't know what the legalities are on akro. What you described sounds
like the original 188 AgWagon with a 230 hp Continental engine.
I flew the AgTruck and AgHusky, with the 285 Continental and liked
them a lot. They had some of the nicest control response of the
Agplanes built in the '70s as my experience had been in the Call Air
A-9 which had the most gawd-awful heavy ailerons but was a true
pussycat on the ground. The Cessna Ag planes were faster across the
field, doing, as I recall, around 120 mph compared with the 95-100 of
the Call Air. The Cessnas were more challenging on landing,
especially if you were operating off of a gravel road, they weren't
bad, they just required more attention, something that was sometimes
difficult at the end of a long day.
For the kind of price you may have yourself a nice airplane for
knocking around. It isn't fast for the power, but you can carry all
the luggage you can stuff in the hopper, so useful load won't be a
problem. Watch extremely carefully for corrosion. Despite the
airplanes being well treated with zinc chromate at the factory, the
chemicals used in ag work can really do a number. Look hard at the
lower fuselage, particularly in the tail. Also look at the after
fuselage bulkheads and all of the horizontal stabilaizer attach
points, spars and ribs as the airplanes got manhandled around by their
tails (even though most had slide out handles in the aft fuselage).
The spring steel gear is hell for stout, but some hard landings if a
pilot returned with a full load could bow the gear making the airplane
track funny.
Might be a fun airplane to knock around in, plus you can rent yourself
out to do glider tow.
All the best,
Rick
Dale <katana...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<663b2ukmiaphkpicc...@4ax.com>...
Rocky
If you are thinking of a former ag plane for aerobatics you better
take another look at the regs. Sure you can do loops and rolls with
one but at what cost? I've got thousands of hours in a variety of ag
planes, and have done some "unusual attitudes" with them but the more
experience I got, the less inclined I was to do the recreational
unusual attitudes not the least of which is the abuse they got during
regular ag ops. Many have corrosion in places you can't see without
total dismantle and doing dye checks as well as floroscope.
I wonder if your A&P doesn't have a particular airplane in mind that
"just might be for sale..."
Happy Holidays
Ol Shy & Bashful with more than 30 years in the ag flying business
R. Wubben
Soaring Society)
I know the tow pilots had alot of fun on the first warm up flight of
the day when they zoomed up and put it thru the paces without a glider
in back.
Most may just be certified in the utility category however...
-Ryan Wubben
Chapel Hill, NC
'59 Forney F-1 Aircoupe
PP-ASEL and glider
Tina Marie
Jay Honeck <jjhonec...@home.com> wrote:
>I guarantee that NOTHING looks more fun (or more dangerous) than flying one
>of those big ol' crop-dusters. Man, if you can really find a good one for
>$30K, they sure look like a great ride!
I saw an AgCat online a while back, with a big engine, modified to take
3 people, with clipped wings - the owner claimed it was an incredible
acro ship. He wanted $68K for it, IIRC.
I looked into a Pawnee as a run-about a while back. You can get them
pretty cheap. I even found a place in IN (maybe Michigan, now that I
think about it), that would restore it to your specs. I would have
done it, but I ended up buying a Tripacer instead.
I love the Pawnees - they're fun to fly, but forgiving. All those crop
dusters are built so you can still land them after spending 12 hours
in the air...
Tina Marie
--
Sometimes I think the Game of Life (tm) is missing a few pieces and one of
the dice is lost under the refrigerator. -- PapaBear, in alt.poly.
http://www.neosoft.com/~tina
