No more C170 for me

[cgoaw]

I am sad to report that the C170B that I fly was sold this summer. It had been purchased by a local flying club a couple of years ago and I was keen to get the opportunity to fly it. The flying club wanted to use the aircraft for converting pilots to tailwheel aircraft.

I have flown at more than 10 different types of tailwheel aircraft including several biplanes. I have to say that I did enjoy my limited amount of experience in the C-170. I didn’t find it to be a particularly difficult aircraft to fly but it certainly wasn’t as docile as a Decathlon.

I only got perhaps 15 hours total time in the aircraft with no cross country flights. In fact, I mostly used it as a commute from one airport in the city to another airport about 10 minutes away. An excuse to fly the machine instead of driving to the other airport. In fact, I don’t believe that I ever ended up more than 10 miles from home base.

I have to say that my experience with the aircraft was positive. Like every aircraft, it has its positives and negatives. Compared to the previous high wing Cessna’s I flew, fueling was much more challenging especially because there were no steps/handle like your typical C150/172. Taxiing was simple and straight forward with good visibility over the nose. I always reminded myself to input some right rudder when raising the tail. The view on climbout was different with the appearance of a nose-low attitude being required for climb. In flight handling seemed to be typical Cessna. Reaching the flap handle with the shoulder harness as installed in the aircraft was impossible leading to some thinking of what would be the best thing to do in the event of a low altitude engine failure(various solutions have been discussed on this board).

I flew it strictly from paved runways where I typically do wheel landings. I found that I could not do a power-off wheel landing in this aircraft without bouncing. Somehow, I could not keep the sink rate low enough in the flare and it would drop in and bounce. A small amount of power in the flare made for a nice touchdown.
That being said, I did try some three pointers which I usually prefer to do on grass. I discovered that it was not difficult at all and was thoroughly impressed by the 40 degree steep approach landings using 60 mph on final.

There were some maintenance issues that came up that grounded the aircraft at times when I was interested in flying it during the brief times I was in town to fly it. The intercom was u/s for a while. It was grounded for a tailwheel cable issue. While waiting to go up on a flight, it returned from a cross country flight with a large streak of oil down the side of the aircraft. Something to do with a screw from the cowl puncturing a valve cover I was told(if that makes sense). The smell of fuel during the descent was written up by me and some leaky fuel line hoses were replaced.

Unfortunately, it was involved in a serious incident about six months after it arrived when an inexperienced instructor used poor judgement and took an inexperienced student flying in a strong crosswind resulting in a loss of directional control and prop strike. The aircraft was down for months to get a new prop and repair the engine. Then once airworthy, it was found to not be taxiing properly as there was some undiscovered damage in the tail. It had come down hard on its tail during the incident. More repairs were done and it was finally flying again. But, the aircraft seemed to have a reputation for being difficult to handle after that and its use decreased significantly. A 5 knot crosswind restriction and 30 day currency restriction was placed on it. I ended up being one of the few renters on the aircraft and based on my job taking me away for significant periods of time, had to go up with an instructor every time I wanted to rent. Perhaps 6 months after being put up for sale, the aircraft was sold. While certainly not anywhere close to the great C170 experiences of many others here, I just wanted to post a quick brief of my personal C170 experience.

It can be easy to just settle into an aircraft type and safely fly with fairly limited knowledge of the aircraft but I do like to try to learn more about the aircraft I am in and TIC170A certainly helped in that sense. There are always gotcha's in an aircraft where a small note can turn out to be a lifesaver. The avoidance of slipping with large amounts of flap is a big one that was emphasized here. On some other Cessna's it is mentioned but perhaps not as critical as on the C170. I have seen discussions with experienced pilots sating that it can be done with just some buffeting. But, what applies to one aircraft does not necessarily apply to another somewhat similar type. Of course, I never tried a sideslip with full flap and had no issues.

I spent a significant amount of time on this forum going through the posts in The Hangar forum and the Pilot Lounge forum. They are excellent for information and I have a large amount of notes that I have taken for future reference in case I fly the aircraft again. I am much more knowledgeable about the aircraft thanks to the International C170 association(and I did read the entire C170 book). Special thanks to GA Horn for his fantastic posts that cut right through to the heart of the matter on a wide range of subjects. I found myself looking specifically for posts from him.

I do fly several other types and therefore will likely concentrate in the future on clubs associated with those aircraft while letting my membership lapse here. But once again, thanks for all the information provided by everyone here.

http://e0.photos.flightcdn.com/photos/r ... 9f36e1c920

[n3833v]

Thank you for your comments and good luck in the future of flying. I wish all pilots in any aircraft would be so inclined to research the aircraft they fly to know its characteristics.
Safe flying.