Well for me at least. I always planned to start flying something a little bigger once I had about 200 hrs, coming up on that now. I've made a deal with the owner of a C182T G1000 to have his plane at my disposal. Little more per hour than other 182's rentals I've seen, but no daily minimum, monthly fees, or club to join. ( plane is only used by owner and one partner, and they don't feel it fly's enough). Obviously a little faster and heavier than the 172 I fly now, the avionics, & Auto Pilot are the same, other than prop control, manifold pressures to watch and different V speeds.....what am I getting myself into ?? Are there any "don't ever do this in a 182" I need to watch out for.. I plan to do at least 8-10 hours with my instructor in the plane before I unleash myself on the world, but always looking for experienced input from the gang on here.. Cheers
Other than taking some more brute force to fly, it's very similar to the C172. The V speeds aren't that different when slow/dirty. When I was getting my PPL, my instructor described the C182 as "a rock." I didn't know if flying "like a rock" was a good thing, but apparently it is. It's a very stable platform, it just requires a little more input from the pilot. It's not as fast or sexy as the competition, but it's a GREAT plane. If you're already up to speed on the G1000 and autopilot, your transition will be quick and easy. Mark
I started flying a 182 RG for business trips recently, and I must admit I love flying the airplane. So many good things I heard turned out to be true including the aforementioned stability, not terrible speed, comfort, etc. It also slows down pretty easily and has really good slow speed characteristics with generous flaps.
Agreed. In fact, I was thinking that after my last flight. I can see where some may become complacent, though...And 235 horses can be enough to get the unacquainted in trouble (then again, so can 90). But yeah, super easy high perf/complex plane. Makes me feel almost guilty
The biggest difference in stepping up to a heavier airplane (or one that flies like a heavier airplane) is that you need to fly it a lot more with the trim. Lighter planes like 152's and 172's don't need much attention to the trim wheel. You can just muscle them around and the control forces aren't very high. With a plane like a 182 you need to pay attention to the trim situation and not necessarily what it is at the moment, but what it's going to be when you do the next thing.. That is, if you pour on the power you need to be expecting the speed and trim change or you can fast find yourself in situations where you are using all of your muscle to try to control the elevator when you need to be doing other things. When I was learning to fly one of my instructors saw I was using a lot of muscle and slapped my hands... Then as a quick demonstration he flew the airplane all around the pattern and landed with just one finger on the controls, obviously using the trim wheel to fly the airplane.. That was a very dramatic lesson, but it showed right away that with heavier aircraft you need to pay a lot more attention to trim. And as you make changes to power, flaps, or if a retract, gear, you need to be ready and roll in your trim changes to stay ahead of the airplane. A second thing is to make sure you know where the prop control is at all times. I was in the back seat when we were checking out a new pilot in my 182RG (who later went on to be the president o Continental Motors).. Anyway, we were doing touch and go's and I watched as he forgot to push the prop in when he put the gear down (the old GUMP checklist still applies), but I figured that a lesson would be a good thing... Anyway as he went to power up for the "go around" the engine just went ...Blllaaaaaaaa.. and didn't make any power because the prop was way out and it took both him and the instructor more than a few seconds to figure it out... They were still looking shell shocked until I sternly told them "PROP IN !! PRO INP".. Then he woke up and pushed it in and power was there... Had he been in a short field and had to do a go around he'd have balled it up... Managing complex aircraft isn't just about knowing you have a prop control and how it works, it's learning, understanding, and committing to memory the way to configure the airplane at the right time, or even ahead of time so that you never get caught in a bad place... Knowing what happens when you mis-use a control is just as important as knowing what it does normally.
Congrats Damion! Yea the 172 to a 182 transition is an easy one. A tad heavier but more power and more fun.
