Cessna 185 29 April 1982

[TwinOtterFan]

I may have answered my own question lol, looking closer at the sample they do not even give a moment for the "6 place version" only the 4 so I guess that would not change the loading. I know he switched the plane to skis approxamately two months prior to the crash, but I do not have an updated W&B. it would appear either way he was not overloaded unless he took a lot of gear that day.

[Jamesel]

It did have fairly basic IFR equipment - Full Gyro panel, VOR & Localiser, ADF, & Heated Pitot. Quite doable - around that time, I did boat around IFR in eastern BC & Northern Alberta with only that kind of equipment. There wasn’t any radar north of Edmonton, so not having a Transponder wasn’t the deal it is now.

I’ve flown 180s & 185s with 6 factory seats. There is not a lot of room in either the centre or rear row, the rear seat bottom was just barely off the ground & the seat back was mounted on the aft bulkhead. The vast majority of airframes now have 4 seats for comfort.
The Arms to insert in your Weight & Balance forms are:
Second Row passengers @ arm of 65”
Third Row Passenger @arm of 97”

900# of people & 504# of fuel leaves 86# for Cargo and Survival Gear. Skiis would add 140 to 160#. That said, 185s don’t tend to take much notice of weight. I’ve chugged across the Rockies at 14,000’ (IFR MEA) in a 185 with 5 people, Full Fuel & camping gear for the weekend .

[TwinOtterFan]

It did have fairly basic IFR equipment - Full Gyro panel, VOR & Localiser, ADF, & Heated Pitot. Quite doable - around that time, I did boat around IFR in eastern BC & Northern Alberta with only that kind of equipment. There wasn’t any radar north of Edmonton, so not having a Transponder wasn’t the deal it is now.

I’ve flown 180s & 185s with 6 factory seats. There is not a lot of room in either the centre or rear row, the rear seat bottom was just barely off the ground & the seat back was mounted on the aft bulkhead. The vast majority of airframes now have 4 seats for comfort.
The Arms to insert in your Weight & Balance forms are:
Second Row passengers @ arm of 65”
Third Row Passenger @arm of 97”

900# of people & 504# of fuel leaves 86# for Cargo and Survival Gear. Skiis would add 140 to 160#. That said, 185s don’t tend to take much notice of weight. I’ve chugged across the Rockies at 14,000’ (IFR MEA) in a 185 with 5 people, Full Fuel & camping gear for the weekend .

Oh I agree it is doable with the equipment noted, I'm not sure if he was trained or able, I have not been able to find his log books or any indication of his hours. Unofficialy he was a sub 200 hour PPL, but I have nothing to confirm that yet. I was able to find an aircraft modification approval for the skiis dated March 1st, so just about two months before the crash, not sure how long he kept them on though.

Approval of Mod.jpg

[TwinOtterFan]

Found a bit more info, still waiting for the accident reports to be released though.

Five Guys.jpg

if not found by.jpg

partial report.jpg

So according to this, the plane departed Fox Creek (CED4) without a filed flight plan made one call to Whitecourt FSS after takeoff and that was it.