It's official! From the words of Cessna themselves:
Last month marked the end of an era for Cessna production aircraft – the last NAV II airplane with traditional flight instruments went out the door at Independence. Cessna will no longer deliver aircraft with traditional vacuum and electric "steam gauges" as primary flight instruments.
For most of us who learned to fly using traditional instruments, we consider this the passage of an epoch. While no one can argue the obvious advantages of the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, all NAV I & II planes are gone with the delivery of Skyhawk serial 10427 on April 17.
It has been impossible to order a new Cessna with round gauges since last year, which is the main reason we invested in Julie, but it's interesting to ponder the demise of the round gauge at the manufacturing level...
Given that the 1950s vintage planes are just now starting to fall off of the resale market, I'm betting round gauges will still be with us for some time.
In other news...
Cessna 04H's engine is back from the wizards at Corona Cylinder, and my goodness she's shiny. Installation and flight testing will continue through to next week, and here are some of the upgrades we have invested in:
Millenium Cylinders, to run cooler
160 horsepower upgrade (from 150) for better climb and overall performance
Oil Filter mod for longer engine life
It's hard to imagine that the first Cessna 172 which came with a factory oil filter was in 1997! Aviation moves oh-so-slow sometimes. (what a fine contrast to the above :) )
Nice weather abounds, if a bit warm -- but the winds have ebbed for the time being, so rodeo rider aspirers will likely need to wait again for next spring. The rest of us will enjoy our calm air.
Blue Skies!
- Mike
