177 vs. 182 Ownership

[ifly4food]

I have considerable time in Cardinals and Skylanes, and if I had to choose, I'd choose the 182.
The Cardinal looks cool, but they're a little underpowered and very sensitive in landing. You really need to fly it onto the runway or you lose stab control. (There was even an AD on this, which is why the stabilator has holes in it.) The C177 has a useful load about the same as a 172, and similar performance. It feels pretty much like a 172 in the air. They also tend to leak... if you fly through rain, bring a raincoat!

The 182 is a much heavier airplane. It feels heavy, and is a true 4 seat airplane. Most Skylane owners will tell you that if you can get the doors closed, it will handle whatever load you put in it. Performance wise, it will smoke a Cardinal, especially when light. You can climb out at 1500FPM at max gross from a 2000' grass strip and cruise at 140KT for 5 hours. You can't do that with a C177. It is extremely stable in flight, and landing is easy once you get used to the heavy nose.

 

[Pipeliner606]

You might also look at the "superhawk", or other 172 conversion aircraft out there. I am presently flying a 1976 172N that has the 0-360 (180hp) and CS prop, on my pipeline patrol duties. This aircraft has exceptional short field capability, will haul a load, and is almost as fast as a 182, burning less gas, and costing less in purchase price. I can lean it to between 10 and 11 an hour. Dont get me wrong, I love 182s, and my company also has 2 Cardinals that we use on long mainline runs. I would take the 182 any day over the Cardinal, BUT, given the choice between the 180hp 172 and the 182, I think I would take the former. Cheaper aquisition, less fuel burn, and almost the same performance.

 

[JimNtexas]

A C182 is WAY more airplane

A C-182 is a true high performance four place piston single, much more so than a C-177 or Archer. Passengers love the high wing and roomy cabin. Pilots love the high performance and rock solid stability.

If you can, get one with oxygen, because it'll easily climb up to 14 or 15 thousand with four people on board. If you don't want to use O2, then figure on 10-12 thousand as routine cruising altitudes.

The C-182 is the most safest and most popular single engine four seater for a reason.

Jim

 

[TurboS7]

save Sexy for the women

The 182 is a great airplane. I got one to use as an instrument trainer for our 135 operation. I found that I could run it for .70 to .75 cents a mile and make money. So I put it on the certificate and chartered it out for freight of course. We flew newspapers, relays for ATT(they loved it) etc, etc,. It flew all over the good old U.S.A. We used to put between 100 to 120 hours per month on the airplane. It burns an averge of 13.0 GPH at a solid 135Kts with the wheel fairings. Easy to maintain with the exhaust being the weak part of the O-470. I just bought an extra set and when we found a crack we just changed it out. I eventually got another one, I would say that the 182 was the biggest surprise of my 135 operator career.