Any thing to watch out for on a R182RG?

Cessnaflyer

Cessnaflyer

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I bought a share in a R182RG and I need to do the little checkout thing next week. I've read through the POH many times and set up some scenarios in flight sim to practice some of the procedures. Does anyone have any tips on what to look out for and how to fly the aircraft? This specific aircraft is one of the first RG's I believe off the line with a serial number of 39!
 
I did my CFI and quite a bit of flying (like 150 hours) in one, flying out of a 2270' runway in VA. The biggest problem I had in transition from a 152/172 was learning to get the nose up during the flare. It seems WAAAY high, but in reality, when you can barely see over the glareshield, you're just getting the nose high enough to not land on the nose wheel. I gave a few hours of dual in one also, and the biggest problem people had was getting used to slowing it down before entering the traffic pattern. It isn't a Mooney or 210, but the speed will sneak up on you if you don't plan correctly. The good thing about it is the 140 knot Vlo and Vfe speeds. I like to put the gear and 10* flaps down almost simultaneously so the effects would cancel each other out and wouldn't require but the slightest trim change. Just like any RG airplane, if you pull the power on final with the gear down, it WILL drop like a rock.

Also, make sure you wipe off the dipstick and insert and pull it out again when doing the preflight. The dipstick is situated horizontally in the pan and the oil doesn't drip back down off of it when hangared/tied down like would in a 172 with a vertical dipstick.

Always always always always visually check the gear down out the window, even if it is only the mains. You'd be appalled at the fragile connection between the electrical bus and the warning horn system.

All in all, they are wonderful airplanes. You'll enjoy many hours of rock solid and stable platform for cross country flights.

PM me if you want any more info
 
Don't let yourself get slow on final, they sink like a rock (esp. with full flaps; I usually use only 20 degrees of flaps for landing and a final approach speed of 70 kts to keep the sink rate manageable) and you likely won't have sufficient elevator authority to keep the nose up in the flare as TFaudree mentions. Wheelbarrow landing = bent firewall = $$$. Great airplane, tho.
 
Yeah I noticed it likes to sit tail low when it is on the ground. I'll be transitioning over from an F33A and from the sounds of it both aircraft like to drop when you chop the throttle.

Is the gear drag noticeable when the mains go back up into their dieing swallow position?
 
You'll prolly see a trim change and about 10 KIAS airspeed difference. Here's a big thing to watch out for with Cessna RG's though:

Never, ever, ever reach for any kind of lever till you're clear of the runway, or back off the ground. Don't even look at the levers. I don't know how the switch config is on that particular plane, but many Cessna RG's are notorious for having the flap lever perilously close to the gear handle, as well as having the squat-switch located on the nose gear. Who cares?

The first gear-up I ever saw was a Cardnial, with a nice girl doing her COMM checkride. Perfect checkride, all that was left was the soft-field. Poor girl lands perfectly, holds the nose off, and then attempts to retract the flaps. Wrong lever. Nose gear off the ground. Kaaaa-runch.

I've also head of bad things happening on go-arounds too, so just remember, no configuration changes (gear, flaps, or anything) until you have a positive rate of climb, or are clear of the runway. That's all I got.
 
I've flown about 1100 hours in an R182RG, much of that instructing, and I've learned a couple of things about the plane that are in the "good/great to know column:"

Sit in the plane and have someone else push the tail down until it touches the ground. You will then learn that if you cannot see the end of the runway (and not just a little bit, but a lot) then you are dragging the tail. Your sweet spot is about 8 inches on landing.

You can fly around all day long with flaps 10, but full flaps are nothing but really big speed brakes.

This airplane will slip like you won't believe.

The 152/172 is a finesse airplane. The 182 is a power airplane, but fly it with finesse and you'll get lots of performance out of it.

At glideslope intercept, power to 17 inches, flaps 10, gear. It'll drive right down the beam.

When taking off, advance mp to 20 inches, release the brakes, then slowly/smoothly advance to full power. This will save your enginea lot of wear and tear. Also, do a takeoff with 20 inches of mp-you'll see that you'll fly, but with less performance (obviously). Be careful adding full power though, the torque can cause a wing drop if you advance the power too quickly.

Do a few falling leaf stalls to get a feel for the stall characteristics. Like many airplanes with strong engines, the power on stall is the most dramatic.

This is a really fun airplane to fly, and to make sure it stays that way, check your gear a LOT. Each leg of the pattern, and again on short final. I recommend against retracting the gear in the pattern, unless you're doing specific landing gear work.

Have fun!

-LC
 
LostComm said:
This is a really fun airplane to fly, and to make sure it stays that way, check your gear a LOT.
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What sorts of things should be watched for on the gear? I cancelled a flight today in a TR182 because the aircraft was at an obvious list, one wingtip about 8" closer to the ground than the other, and it all couldn't be attributed to fuel imbalance. We're not sure if it's a bent strut or something internally, but better to have an A&P jack it up and take a look than have it collapse on landing or retract asymmetrically.
 
CapnJim said:
The first gear-up I ever saw was a Cardnial, with a nice girl doing her COMM checkride. Perfect checkride, all that was left was the soft-field. Poor girl lands perfectly, holds the nose off, and then attempts to retract the flaps. Wrong lever. Nose gear off the ground. Kaaaa-runch.
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OUCH! :eek:
 
Be really easy on the brakes if practicing short field landings for the checkout. I have seen a lot of the 172 and 182 RG tires get squared off by people locking up the brakes.
 
That flaps incident is another reason I normally use only flaps 20, reserving full flaps for those slam-dunks ATC likes to give out sometimes--and then it's always to a full-stop landing.
 
If you are an owner, I'd find out how old the mags are. Actually, it's the single gear in the assembly that drives both mags that I'd worry about because it has been known to shear. Unlike many other engine designs, this REALLY isn't a redundant system. There is only one point on the accessory case, and both mags are contained in one assembly and are driven by a common gear. No mags = no fire = Cessna glider. I beleive the Aztruck and PA31's have the same style.

The gear is slower than on the Beech. If there isn't a mirror on the RH wing, I believe there are some STCs to mount one. Then you can see the RH main (when single pilot) and nose wheels. It just has one green light, right? The comment about the landing attitude is pretty good. Watch out for pitching too high. And, like the Beech, NEVER touch anything after landing until clear of the active and at a complete stop. Those few seconds can co$t a ton.

One last thing: check the age and condition of the gear actuators (looks like it got a new power pack in 2003). They are expensive, but it doesn't matter if you have a good pump if the actuator is no good.
 
mojo6911 said:
Be really easy on the brakes if practicing short field landings for the checkout. I have seen a lot of the 172 and 182 RG tires get squared off by people locking up the brakes.
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Oh yes! Thats another issue I forgot about. Those 182RG tires are probably some of the smallest on any production airplane ever built. They certainly aren't ready for braking action until the airplane has been on the ground for a few seconds. This is yet another reason to fly the proper speed on final, especially into a short runway where you need all the braking help you can get.
 
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