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FastEddieB

FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Oct 14, 2013
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Lenoir City, TN/Mineral Bluff, GA
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Fast Eddie B
I had a chance today to do a flight review in a fellow's Cessna 120.

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Built in 1947!

That's 2 years before I was born!! It's got to be about the oldest plane I've had the pleasure to fly in, though I think an Ercoupe I flew in was around the same vintage.

It's remarkable to me that something designed and built 70 years ago is still flying and flying well.

Both my student and myself are roughly the same age. We're both hanging in there, but to be honest, I think the plane is winning!

The little 85hp engine was remarkably smooth and quiet. Bits were certainly dated - PULL TO START? - but still fully capable. Performance was modest of course, but cruise was not far off from my Sky Arrow, 60 years its junior.

Overall? I'm impressed!
 
Your comparison is accurate. In the post-Depression, post-WWII era these were what civilians could afford.

As the price of a new 4-place 172 or Cherokee Archer skyrockets, the LSA movement is taking aviation full circle back in that direction of light, simple, forgiving to fly airplanes. The Rotax 912 is the C85/O-200 of our day. However, in 70 years will someone be flying your restored Sky Arrow? ;)
 
Here's the panel:

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Yes, it's a gorgeous little plane. Seems like it would cruise I between 90 and 100 kts, which is in the same range as my Sky Arrow. Climb rate is definitely better in the more modern plane. But with an iPad or portable GPS, fully capable of navigating anywhere in the country, although currently no transponder limits it a bit.

Not sure there's any fundamental reason the little Sky Arrow could not be motoring along in 70 years. I've been very impressed with its durability over its first decade. But I suspect battery technology and fuel availability may eventually doom all our gas-powered toys in the long run.
 
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That panel is a work of art itself! In addition to aesthetics, it looks pretty easy to pull that center section to access the instruments.
 
Lovely airplane!
Does it get any better than "PULL TO START" :thumbsup:

If it will really do 100 kts on 85 sea level hp that's pretty phenomenal!
 
See, don't need all that fancy chit cluttering up the panel and your lap, iThis and iThat lol.
 
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A late 1939 child here who still has a few memories of WWII. The planes and pilots of the day infused into our memories a sense of power and galantry that will never be forgotten by those who were born prior to the onset of WWII. The aces of the day who took out the enemy were and still are our heroes.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
And I looked at the panel and thought "That's a lot of stuff for a 120..."
Click to expand...

Interestingly, two gyro instruments driven by two venturi tubes on the fuselage, and an electric turn and bank. But no radios at all - communications via handheld and navigation via tablet.

But it gets the job done!
 
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