KSCessnaDriver
Well-Known Member
I believe they went to 30 degrees flaps in 1977's N model to improve full flaps go around performance so they wouldn't get sued quite as often when pilots screwed up the go arounds.
They went to 30 degrees of flaps whenever they increased the gross weight of the 172. In order to improve go-around performance with full flaps at MTOW, they had to limit the flaps to 30.