Cessna 182 as a Tow Plane?

"goneill" wrote...
You have had your towplane 14years ,she is a baby ,our club has had
our Pawnee 40 years.

Kansas Soaring Association has operated a C-182 since Early 1962. The
same one. Well, most of it is the same. OK, some of it is still the
same. Kansas being the land of tornados, etc. Long story, but all
documented!

We have the world's oldest C-182. Don't let anyone tell you they have
it, because they don't. We do. Ours came down the line as a C-180
and got made into the prototype by Cessna by adding the nose gear. We
got it at the end of 1961 and it has been serving us very well ever
since. And, yes, it has a Standard AW, not Experimental or restricted
or anything else like that.

Like Cindy said, insurance is cheaper, you get ramp shade, and can do
checkouts and other things with it. One thing that Cindy did not
mention is the oil quantity. Just because the dipstick has markings
up to 12 quarts doesn't mean you should fill it that full. If you do,
you should be the one that gets to wash those two quarts of oil off of
the belly. Keep it between 9 and 10. If you have more than that,
with the very nose high attitude on climb, you put it all at the back
of the case where the rods for the back cylinders can splash it up and
make it burn and blow overboard. Runs hotter with 12 than with 10.
But don't go under 8. Starts to run real hot.

Baffles are the key to cooling. Especially on ours. We don't have
cowl flaps. Gradual power reductions. Also recommend not running
exclusively car gas if you have that STC.

We have used ours for performance measuring tows on some spring and
fall mornings. 20 minutes to take a Mosquito from ground (1500 feet)
to 10K AGL. 23 minutes to take a 604 on the same trip. Round trips
during the summer with glass ships going to 2K AGL are typically .1
tach hours. Typically run about 1.5 gallons per tow. Some days more,
some days less. Depends on the tow pilot and how much above requested
height the glider pilots are going.

We have no interior, and two seats in ours. Second seat is good for
checkouts and a strapped in water jug for the towpilot. And wheel
pants? Why would you want them on a towplane? We don't get "Style"
points here in Kansas. Once the glider is off, you accelerate some to
get drag so you can come down. And wheel pants would reduce the
amount of drag you can get. Oh, yeah. Flaps up for descent, as they
have an 80 MPH limit.

We love our 182. We use it only for towing. Keeps the insurance
cheaper still.

Steve Leonard
KSA Towplane Manager
(Among my other duties!)