Am I Jinxed, or is the C172RG Just a Crappy, Unreliable Airplane???

HighFlyingA380

HighFlyingA380

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Jim F.
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2 out of my 3 flights in the plane (my first 3 commercial flights, too) have now ended in declaring an emergency.

A couple weeks ago, I had a rolling electrical failure, that resulted in a total electrical failure in IMC while shooting an ILS. Ended up breaking off the approach when I spotted a hole in the clouds, and did a 15nm scud run along a river to a smaller Class E airport. To top that one off, the manual gear pump wasn't working right, and ended up needing to pump it over 100 times (recommended 35) to get it in a position which I believed was locked. (No electrical, no gear light.)

Then today, on final the gear wouldn't come down, with no breaker popped. Got out of the pattern to troubleshoot. After manually extending the gear, still no safe indication light and the gear warning horn was going crazy. Flew by the tower and they confirmed the nose was down, but rolled ARFF just in case.

I'm just hoping I've had enough excitement for a while now. Since all this has happened in the C172RG, I'm inclined to think it's just a crappy plane; I just hope I'm not jinxed, otherwise I'm up for an interesting and eventful aviation career.

Oh, and to top it all off, with both instances my audio recorder wasn't working right so I didn't get any of it. :mad:
 
Sounds like you need to find another airplane to fly. That one is clearly not maintained very well.
 
Thanks for the warning.

I'll put it together myself. Don't rent Air Associates aircraft.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Sounds like you need to find another airplane to fly. That one is clearly not maintained very well.
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bnt83 said:
Thanks for the warning.

I'll put it together myself. Don't rent Air Associates aircraft.
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Lol, it [they] are normally maintained great and never have an issue. Heck, they'll even be on top of fixing a small rip in the upholstery. The only time I know of any problem in an AA plane (besides a burnt bulb) is in this plane when I fly it.
 
N6464R gear collaps in 1985. This is serial 172RG0184. From Cessna experience including all the Citations, they finally settle on a design somewhere between serial # 150 and 200. Everything up to that is a prototype... There is a little sarcasim in the FWIW, but the first 150 or so of any model all seem to get the short stick.
 
Problem with 172RGs is that like Arrows, the primary use is training, training and more training. The majority of them get ridden hard and put away wet so to speak, so that probably accounts a lot for the problems you are experiencing.


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OP, roll on over to the 172RG fire thread my man. I hope you're renting this airplane, not owning it. Remember the gear on these airplanes (172/177/182/210) were an afterthought in design, mostly borne out of a desire to fill a training niche in order to satisfy commercial/CFI certificate requirements. They were never intended to be bona fide XC cruisers by virtue of the swing gear component. As such, they're maintenance nightmares compared to their down and welded counterparts.

Some will say, "well well, they would be better if they weren't used as trainers". A non-trainer 172RG? LOL Like a Pegasus, you can't hang your hat on that.

Get that commercial ticket and move on. There are better values out there in the fixed gear market. There's a time and place for swing gear. Sub 180kt piston rigs aren't it.
 
For those who don't know, their 172RG appears to be the OLDEST Cessna they have by a 23 year margin. Maybe they don't know what older planes need?
 
hindsight2020 said:
they're maintenance nightmares compared to their down and welded counterparts.
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That could be said about any retract

hindsight2020 said:
Remember the gear on these airplanes (172/177/182/210) were an afterthought in design, mostly borne out of a desire to fill a training niche in order to satisfy commercial/CFI certificate requirements. They were never intended to be bona fide XC cruisers by virtue of the swing gear component.
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:rofl:



Please... That's why they built over 16,000 high wing retracts. Over 8,000 of them were 210's
 
bnt83 said:
For those who don't know, their 172RG appears to be the OLDEST Cessna they have by a 23 year margin. Maybe they don't know what older planes need?
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Yeah, as a certified Cessna Pilot Center, they require all primary trainers to be fairly new (not sure what the actual cut-off is). We have the RG for commercial/CFI training and our photography charters, since we'll get better endurance over the S models.
 
bnt83 said:
......settle on a design somewhere between serial # 150 and 200. Everything up to that is a prototype... There is a little sarcasim in the FWIW, but the first 150 or so of any model all seem to get the short stick.
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As a recovering racer /fabricator / driver.. I can say the first generation of any product is cutting edge stuff... Sometimes the engineers get the calcs right and the "burn in time" is uneventful... Sometimes it goes haywire at the speed of light...

With that said, I have been flying for 30+ years. mostly in singles and light twins... The past 6 years or so I have been exposed my to the biz jet world and lucky for me my neighbor is an ex racer too so he has the same "test pilot" attitude as me... He also has been buying Citations to fly and resell... He in NOT afraid of early serial number planes... In fact I have spent several flights at FL450 and running 7 miles a minute in the 001 serial number CJ-2.. It ran so good and dependable this guy went out and bought the 001 serial number CJ-4..... Both planes fly perfectly and look like brand new...

It does take a different type of person to buy and fly early model stuff and since my experimental has 2 1/2 times the suggested horsepower in it my neighbor and I get along pretty darn good.... Apparently we both like adrenaline rushes...;)

To keep this on topic..... In my 30+ years of flying I have yet to utter the E word.....:no:.....

But then there is always tommorows flight..:yes::eek:
 
N801BH said:
As a recovering racer /fabricator / driver.. I can say the first generation of any product is cutting edge stuff... Sometimes the engineers get the calcs right and the "burn in time" is uneventful... Sometimes it goes haywire at the speed of light...

With that said, I have been flying for 30+ years. mostly in singles and light twins... The past 6 years or so I have been exposed my to the biz jet world and lucky for me my neighbor is an ex racer too so he has the same "test pilot" attitude as me... He also has been buying Citations to fly and resell... He in NOT afraid of early serial number planes... In fact I have spent several flights at FL450 and running 7 miles a minute in the 001 serial number CJ-2.. It ran so good and dependable this guy went out and bought the 001 serial number CJ-4..... Both planes fly perfectly and look like brand new...

It does take a different type of person to buy and fly early model stuff and since my experimental has 2 1/2 times the suggested horsepower in it my neighbor and I get along pretty darn good.... Apparently we both like adrenaline rushes...;)

To keep this on topic..... In my 30+ years of flying I have yet to utter the E word.....:no:.....

But then there is always tommorow..:yes::eek:
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You haven't owned a Cessna 750 that is junk after 10 years regaurdless of time and cycles. The older fleet is plauged with HUGE corrosion problems. The longest downtime I've seen yet was over 20 months. That aircraft left on a ferry permit to Witchita's parking lot for a permanent repair so downtime is still counting.

Edit: that plane had about 4,500 hours and 4,300 cycles.
 
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bnt83 said:
You haven't owned a Cessna 750 that is junk after 10 years regaurdless of time and cycles. The older fleet is plauged with HUGE corrosion problems. The longest downtime I've seen yet was over 20 months. That aircraft left on a ferry permit to Witchita's parking lot for a permanent repair so downtime is still counting.
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Hmmm..

So all the QS 900 numbers planes are junk ???:dunno:...

Maybe you should Email Warren Buffet and let him know..
 
bnt83 said:
Registration # doesn't matter, it's FLEET wide.
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I am sure NetJets and Cessna will hire you as an expert witness to validate that comment....:nonod:

How long does it take to travel in your wheelchair along the side of the interstate down to Wichita KS..:dunno:..;)
 
I'm not a mechanic and I'm not even much of a pilot, but I'm a pretty good engineer. I helped my neighbor try to figure out the uplocks and downlocks and hydraulics on his RG and I speculated that it must have been designed by an insane German engineer.
 
Old Geek said:
I'm not a mechanic and I'm not even much of a pilot, but I'm a pretty good engineer. I helped my neighbor try to figure out the uplocks and downlocks and hydraulics on his RG and I speculated that it must have been designed by an insane German engineer.
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My Audi enthusiast friend says "Audi ownership begins at your first Check Engine light"
 
AdamZ said:
Why do you think a 177 RG is bad?
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The 177RG is better in almost all respects than a C172RG. I will say that the C172RG gear system is a bit more robust than the 177RG, but then again, the gear motor is in the engine compartment, which has drawbacks compared to putting it in the tailcone as the 177RG does.

But other than that, the C177RG is superior in all respects to the 172RG and the non-turbo Arrow.

Disregard anything you hear about Cardinals from anyone who hasn't actually owned one.

The OP is flying a trainer with (I suspect) many thousands of hours and minimal maintenance. That's what flight schools can afford, its the same at every flight school that isn't under contract to an airline.
 
JimNtexas said:
I will say that the C172RG gear system is a bit more robust than the 177RG, but then again, the gear motor is in the engine compartment, which has drawbacks compared to putting it in the tailcone as the 177RG does.

Disregard anything you hear about Cardinals from anyone who hasn't actually owned one.
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No it's NOT.

The powerpack, including the electricly driven hydraulic pump and motor, is mounted in the cabin forward of the center pedestal.
 
HighFlyingA380 said:
Lol, it [they] are normally maintained great and never have an issue. Heck, they'll even be on top of fixing a small rip in the upholstery. The only time I know of any problem in an AA plane (besides a burnt bulb) is in this plane when I fly it.
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No, if they're doing proper gear maintenance and *replacing worn out parts* it shouldn't be happening to anyone.

The biggest problem with Cessna retracts is people not taking proper care of them and consulting an expert in type about what wears out and needs preemptive replacement instead of waiting for a gear failure.

Most Cessna retract owners don't want to spend the money.
 
bnt83 said:
I don't think that's just a Cessna thing.
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True. True. Just saying there's nothing inherently wrong with the systems as built and designed, but there's a lot of them that are worn out in service in the rental fleet and the MX of many rental places is way too "break-fix" instead of prevention, for such a critical system.
 
Oh look, it's another "The Cessna single-engine retract I'm flying is a giant pile of ****" thread. Jim, I could have told you to stay away from those things buddy. Lol. Find an old beater arrow to rent, they seem to be a lot less likely to kill you, burn you, or just randomly catch on fire.
 
JimNtexas said:
The OP is flying a trainer with (I suspect) many thousands of hours and minimal maintenance. That's what flight schools can afford, its the same at every flight school that isn't under contract to an airline.
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Exactly.
 
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