C185 - my favourite Cessna

[Colonel]

[Liquid_Charlie]

When I first started flying for a living (@ $300/month) the buck 85 was pretty new and it was the desired cessna to drive. This was mostly the 180 was a dog in comparison. The 185 on good floats would haul almost twice as much, scales were few and far between and get out of the water and climb and on skis, well, you didn't really worry about slush and while others were stuck the 185 was making miles. $500/month and 5 cents a mile. I was in the big money -- haha then your world changed because after enjoying the cessna world they holiday ended and a big yellow rag bag was your reward. Did I say I loved flying the old whoredyne, it was a man's aircraft and if i got stuck in a beaver for a day I couldn't wait to get back to my norseman. The beech was a different orgasm altogether.

The 185 was the sports car of the day in the bush but the whoredyne got 'er done

[Colonel]

180 was a dog in comparison

I once flew a 180 on amphibs - I know, I know, you bush guys
laugh at amphibs as a rich man's toy, and you're probably right ...

Anyways, a 180 on amphibs with two big guys and some gas
was pretty doggy, getting off the water. I was really surprised.

I love the 185. I know a lot of people don't like the big fuel
injected Continentals, but I have never had a problem with them.

Easy to start, smooth and powerful. Good enough for me!

My main problem is that the 185 hasn't been made in 40 (?)
years, and everything for sale is beat to shit with 10,000TT+
and can you say corrosion?

Too bad Cessna doesn't make them any more. Remember
the factory float kits? All the good stuff. People said they
added them later, but it's just not the same.

[Scudrunner]

oh that sound is just awesome.

[Liquid_Charlie]

oh that sound is just awesome

Only a cpl better, nordyne and a harvard with long 2 blade' ers - nothing like snarling prop noise

[Colonel]

Here's a really weird takeoff for you:

www.pittspecials.com/movies/hs_to.wmv

Betcha never heard a Harvard like that - all engine, no prop.

Stearman sounds just like a Beaver, with the R-985.

[Colonel]

That's me landing a 185 at Salida, CO - elevation of the runway
is 7000. South of Leadville in the funny valley between the ridges
of the Rockies that run north-south. Valley slopes up as you go
north towards Leadville. Neat place, at least when the wind is
calm.

I fell in love with the 185 on that ferry trip, from Toronto in maybe
1995? Jumped in it, filed IFR and into the clouds we went. I remember
popping out in top of the clouds, I think we did a windy ILS into Flint
to get back down. I recall it tied down on the ramp at Flint (?) after
we landed, it jumping up and down in the wind on the ground. It really
needed lift spoilers, for tie down. IIRC it would true 140 knots if you
fed it enough gas, which I did, because I wasn't buying.

Hey, I was young. They told me it was art. I needed the money.

[JW Scud]

What about this sound?

[Colonel]

Man, I cringe when that Harvard/T-6 prop goes by ...

Compare it to the grey, geared 3-blade clip-wing above,
which is all engine and no prop.

Last time I was at the airport, a silver T-6 was in the pattern
and it's sure a noisy bugger. That's why I'm based at that
airport, actually. Never, ever be the noisiest airplane at your
airport. Trust me on this.

Peter used to get death threats. The guys in St Catherines
with the two Extras were thrown off the airport and moved
to Phoenix, I think.

I tell people here to pull a couple hundred RPM off the prop
after takeoff. Leave the throttle wide open, that's after you
get the gear up, etc.

I get blank looks. Everyone drives around with the prop
control all the way in.

All righty then.

[CaptNerdly]

Back when Canada was first buying the CF-18 the late great Jimmy Cousineau suggested at the annual Red Lake freeze up party that instead the government should buy 10,000 Norsemen, fly them over to Russia, and "Kill 'em with the Noise"!
All but gone now, sadly.