Cessna 150/152

Aircraft Information
Aircraft Make: Cessna
Aircraft Model: 150/152
Aircraft Nickname:
Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Airplane SE Piston
Category: Airplane
Class: Single Engine Land
Engine Description: Single Engine

First Flown Information
Sequence First Flown:
Date First Flown: 08/22/1981
Location First Flown: Corpus Christi, TX
Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: Did not record

Aircraft Experience
As of: 06/06/2020
Number of Hours Flown: 98
Number of Times Flown: 65
Other Aircraft Models Associated: C-150, C-152

Recollections: Even though the Cessna 150/152 is one of the most common training airplanes in the world, I didn’t fly one until after I’d gotten my Navy wings. The purpose of this flight was to enable me to add a Single Engine Land FAA rating to my newly-minted FAA Multi-engine Land rating…a rating which I had received by “equivalency” while getting my wings in the Navy’s T-44 King Air.

What I remember most about this flight was the man I flew with. Unfortunately, my logbook is not very detailed and I didn’t record his name. But I remember him and the flight well. I was getting a check flight from a local Corpus Christi, TX Fixed-Base-Operator (FBO) from which I planned to rent the C-152 to take a checkride with the FAA. The instructor seemed ancient to my only-recently-winged 23 year-old self. He didn’t say much and, frankly, I wasn’t sure he was really “with it” as I flew the plane out to a working area to demonstrate slow flight, stalls, etc. After some basic air work, he directed me to fly south towards an uncontrolled, austere landing strip for some pattern work. “Austere” is a kind word for UNBELIEVABLY narrow. The strip’s paved area was maybe a total of 10-15 feet wider than the C-152’s landing gear. Beyond that lay what appear to be, at best, rocky bare earth or, at worst, sand that might “swallow” up the 152. Ok, no problem….it’s my first time in this airplane but I’m a Naval Aviator, after all. Upon arrival we did an aerial inspection of the strip, to discover there was a 15-20 knot direct crosswind. I pointed this out to the elderly instructor who’s un-rushed response was “So?”. Well, I guess I’m going to have to do this, I thought. So, I setup my best pattern, tried to stay ahead of the plane and think through the challenging approach and touch and go….account for the wind in the pattern, use partial flaps (the strip was plenty long, if not wide), get that top wing down early enough to judge the wind, remember to keep the aileron into the wind when on the ground, don’t forget the carb heat, etc. Well, let’s just say the approach, landing and touch and go were–while not my best work–safe. I didn’t go off the side of the narrow pavement. I felt fairly successful, having only flown the plane for maybe 30 minutes at that point. I do remember that I was fairly active on the controls but my instructor seemed just barely awake. He was nowhere NEAR the controls (surprising to me) and appeared to me to be just this side of conscious. After I lifted off, I looked over at him and said “What next?” (hoping the answer would be “that was great, let’s go home”). Instead, he answered “Mind if I show you one?” and, for the first time that day, he took the controls. I remember being nervous…my youthful reflexes and recent Naval wings of gold had combined to make my landing safe but not comfortable…what was this old guy going to be able to do? Well, his approach, landing and touch-go were flown with minimal control movements, it seemed like there was no wind (though it was still there), the airplane appeared to be on an “invisible rail in the sky”, and the runway might’ve well have been a hundred feet wide….and I watched him perform a flawless pattern, smooth as can be, with no hint of working hard. After that, he gave me back the controls and gave me a few tips during my next pattern. Tips I remembered and used on every crosswind landing that I’ve flown since. It took me a while, but this young “whipper snapper” learned a thing or two from the “Yoda of Corpus” that day.