bought the plane today

my first airplane. cessna 172C.

this group, along with a couple of others, has given me the best
information as i've progressed. by way of payback, i intend to tell
some about the process i went thru for the benefit of others who may be
planning; hoping.

why a 172-c?? well, a couple of reasons. mechanical flaps (you pull a
rod that's laying on the floor) and the 6 cylinder engine which,
although it is 5-15 hp light of later models, is smooth music compared
to the banging of the 4s. any airport in america has mechanics and
parts to fix a 172. it is slow by most standards but i think i see
15/mpg which ain't that bad considering the advantage you get over cars
on "direct route". i'm retired; i've got lots of time.

i paid 34k$ and wells fargo financed me at 7.75 for 15 years. makes it
managable. very friendly people. i like them.

i joined aopa and subscribed to trade-a-plane and g.a. news. haunted
the web for any and all information i could find on airplanes including
the new light sport stuff.

every evening, or something close to that, i would read the adds in
trade a plane and e-bay and whatever i could find untill i had a good
working understanding of the issues around aircraft purchase and
ownership. i have not been flying much lately because i knew i would
need the money to buy - not rent.

when the plane showed-up at my local airport, i expressed interest and
had the owner agree to a full inspection by my mechanic. that uncovered
an exhaust valve problem. he fixed it and we closed today. yipee!! i
now own a plane. had my mechanic not examined the plane then i would be
looking at a grand in engine fix already. now, at least, i've got all 6
doing well north of 70lbs.

i''ll be joining the cessna pilots assn. shortly. thanks y'all who
advised there. hooks airport is renting t-hangers at 250/month and i'll
be getting one tomorrow. i really like having a tin box for my bird.
anyway, that's my experience so for. hope it helps.

i can see that i'm going to be needing a lot of money for gas.

dan

In article . com,
"houstondan" wrote:

[snip]
i can see that i'm going to be needing a lot of money for gas.

and worth every darn penny.

congrats.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Good going!

The 172 is the world's most popular airplane for a reason!

Karl
"Curator"


"houstondan" wrote in message
ups.com...
my first airplane. cessna 172C.

this group, along with a couple of others, has given me the best
information as i've progressed. by way of payback, i intend to tell
some about the process i went thru for the benefit of others who may be
planning; hoping.

why a 172-c?? well, a couple of reasons. mechanical flaps (you pull a
rod that's laying on the floor) and the 6 cylinder engine which,
although it is 5-15 hp light of later models, is smooth music compared
to the banging of the 4s. any airport in america has mechanics and
parts to fix a 172. it is slow by most standards but i think i see
15/mpg which ain't that bad considering the advantage you get over cars
on "direct route". i'm retired; i've got lots of time.

i paid 34k$ and wells fargo financed me at 7.75 for 15 years. makes it
managable. very friendly people. i like them.

i joined aopa and subscribed to trade-a-plane and g.a. news. haunted
the web for any and all information i could find on airplanes including
the new light sport stuff.

every evening, or something close to that, i would read the adds in
trade a plane and e-bay and whatever i could find untill i had a good
working understanding of the issues around aircraft purchase and
ownership. i have not been flying much lately because i knew i would
need the money to buy - not rent.

when the plane showed-up at my local airport, i expressed interest and
had the owner agree to a full inspection by my mechanic. that uncovered
an exhaust valve problem. he fixed it and we closed today. yipee!! i
now own a plane. had my mechanic not examined the plane then i would be
looking at a grand in engine fix already. now, at least, i've got all 6
doing well north of 70lbs.

i''ll be joining the cessna pilots assn. shortly. thanks y'all who
advised there. hooks airport is renting t-hangers at 250/month and i'll
be getting one tomorrow. i really like having a tin box for my bird.
anyway, that's my experience so for. hope it helps.

i can see that i'm going to be needing a lot of money for gas.

dan

("houstondan" wrote)
my first airplane. cessna 172C.

this group, along with a couple of others, has given me the best
information as i've progressed. by way of payback, i intend to tell some
about the process i went thru for the benefit of others who may be
planning; hoping.


Congratulations on your purchase!

http://www.airventure.org/2006/news/060214_cessna.html
Oshkosh is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 172 this year!


Montblack

i can see that i'm going to be needing a lot of money for gas.

Congratulations. You ought to look into an Auto Gas STC for your plane.

Gauy

"Guy Byars" wrote in message news:Fl04g.23541
Congratulations. You ought to look into an Auto Gas STC for your plane.

I thought the gubmint mandated ethanol had pretty much made auto gas useless
in a plane.

"Steve Foley" wrote in message
news:9K24g.1977$ud.217@trndny03...
"Guy Byars" wrote in message news:Fl04g.23541
Congratulations. You ought to look into an Auto Gas STC for your plane.

I thought the gubmint mandated ethanol had pretty much made auto gas
useless
in a plane.

Neal Boortz:
http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/
"Congress recently refused to protect the MTBE makers from liability from
frivolous lawsuits. MTBE is a component in gasoline ... and the makers are
bailing. MTBE is to be replaced by ethanol .. .but the ethanol producers
just can't keep up! This affects supply, and reduced supply in the face of
increased demand means what? Higher gas prices? Could we get the ethanol
we need from overseas? Why yes! We could! But the Bush administration has
a 54 cent-per-gallon import duty on imported ethanol! There's your price
gouging! Drop that import duty and I wonder what would happen to gas
prices."

I believe the recent switch from MTBE to ethanol in areas mandated to
use oxygenated gasoline will make ethanol free gasoline more available
for the rest of the country, because ethanol supply is very stretched
and the ethanol price is inflated. Right now the *wholesale* ethanol
price is $2.77/gal, about 50c higher than the gasoline. The oil
company is not going to add ethanol to gasoline in areas where it's not
absolutely mandated. Keep in mind that ethanol can't be blended into
gasoline at the refinary and transported in pipelines. It must be
transported separated and blended at a terminal facility.

Guy Byars wrote:
i can see that i'm going to be needing a lot of money for gas.


Congratulations. You ought to look into an Auto Gas STC for your plane.

Gauy


The thing I don't like about autogas is that it goes rancid
so easily and quickly. Unless you fly alot and often it may
not be so good to use it.

"ktbr" wrote in message ...
Guy Byars wrote:
i can see that i'm going to be needing a lot of money for gas.


Congratulations. You ought to look into an Auto Gas STC for your plane.

Gauy


The thing I don't like about autogas is that it goes rancid
so easily and quickly. Unless you fly alot and often it may
not be so good to use it.

Runs like a champ in the 172A 0-300