Cessna 180/185 Skywagon

Aircraft Information
> Aircraft Make: Cessna. Model: 180/185. Nickname: Skywagon
> Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Airplane SE Piston
> FAA Category and Class: Airplane Single Engine Land (and Sea)
> Engine Description: single piston

Aircraft Experience
> As of: 11/5/2024
> Number of Hours Flown: 20
> Number of Times Flown: 63
> Other Aircraft Models Associated: C-180

First Flown Information
> Sequence First Flown: 89
> Date First Flown: 11/22/1996
> Location First Flown: NAS Patuxent River, MD (KNHK)
> Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: USNTPS Qual Eval (Seaplane from North Dakota State)

Recollections: My first flight in a C-185 was to fly with a Qual Eval with North Dakota State while assigned as the CFI at USNTPS.  The school hired a 185 Floatplane to come all the way out east and fly students (and staff). Not sure why we couldn’t find somebody closer (we also used the Department of Forestry’s Beaver from, I think, Minnesota). This may have been my first floatplane flight.

Next time was after retiring from the Navy and joining the FAA as a Test Pilot in their Wichita, KS office.  There I got checked out to tow gliders at McMaster Field, west of Wichita.  I don’t have a lot of time in the 185 but I believe it’s a wonderful airplane, honest handling and very capable.