My Plane is a 1957 Cessna 182A

I have always been interested in flying. When I was a child, my father would always take me with him when he went to an airport. Being in the Army, there were planes and helicopters everywhere.

July, 1998 I decided to start the process to earn my private pilot license.
I received my ground school from Mr. Long (everybody knows him). I think he was around when the Wright brothers made their first flight.

During my ground school, I was accepted by Rudy Morton as one of his students, and started learning to fly in Oct. 1998.
I first started learning in a 1956 Cessna 172. After about 10 hours I decided to purchase the 182A. I can honestly tell you, there is a difference between these planes like night and day. The 172 allows you ample time to make decisions. The 182 is a much faster plane and demands a much quicker response.
I am still in the student pilot mode, but I have made my Solo flight and have about 3 hours left before I will able to go take my Check Ride.

Since starting to fly, I have flown to Raleigh, NC. twice (at night), Athens, Oh. (never again in the winter) Richmond, Va., Franklin County Airport, Nags Head, Myrtle Beach, SC., Wilmington NC, Elizabeth City NC, New Bern NC., Burlington, NC., Rockingham, NC. Henderson, NC.
Other flights have mainly been within 25 miles of Roanoke Rapids, NC.

Don't think it can't happen to you, because it can !!!

Blown Engine At 1200 Ft.
On June 2, 1999 a local A&P had finished repairing my right flap track, and was I ready to fly my plane.
I met Rudy (my instructor) at the airport around 8 a.m. to sit in on another pilots oral test. After a full day of questions, we were both ready to get up and away.
Around 3:30 p.m. I finished my pre-flight and off we went. One of our local student pilots joined us. We flew up into VA, over Lake Gaston, S turns, steep turns, slow flight, turns about a point, stalls and unusual attitudes. After about 1 1/2hrs of flying, we returned to RZZ (Halifax County Airport) and landed. Well, it wasn't one of my better landings so I taxied back around, and departed runway 05. After reaching 800 ft. I turned to my left and continued climbing up to 1000 ft, where I turned left entering a downwind approach to runway 5, leveling off at 1200 ft. As I approached the end of the runway, the plane started shaking like a washing machine out of balance. In a matter of 15 seconds, we went from flying to surviving. Suddenly, BOOM, my #3 cylinder blew off and was stopped by the solid wall of my cowling. (photo #1) Rudy took command of the airplane and we started an emergency decent. Fortunately we were close enough to the airport to use the runway and not somebody's field or backyard.
After landing, we rolled up to the A&P's hanger where reality hit us. We had a Continental 0-470-L cylinder sticking out through the right side of the plane. The force of the cylinder actually pulled and broke off the side of the casing (photo #2,3).
When it was said and done, we were lucky to have been where we were when this happened.
Remember, while flying, no matter where you are, always look for your next emergency landing spot. You never know when it will be needed. Practice Emergency Landings.

Will you know what to do if this happens to you ? PRACTICE---PRACTICE---PRACTICE

Life After Engine Death
Since I had my experience at 1200 ft., I have continued to fly. Although not as much as I did with my own plane.
I spoke to and received more calls from engine companies than I would like to remember. I finally decided to do business with Triad Aviation out of Burlington, NC. With the deal came an A&P engine installer, his name is Travis.
Several weeks after the engine failure, I was able to move my plain to a hanger.
After removing the engine, the clean-up started. I found cables and wires that should have been removed when the equipment was removed. We cleaned and polished the fire wall (Fig. 2). We removed the engine mount and sent it to Triad for inspection. While doing it, you might as well do it right. I went on and sent the entire exhaust system out to be rebuild (Fig. 3). Now the wait began. My daughter Amberly (Fig. 4) helped me clean and polish this plane until we got sick of the smell of polish. We vacuumed, steam cleaned, painted, cleaned. I thought we would go crazy. Finally we got word that the engine was ready and would be delivered in two weeks. It was so nice to see the engine. We installed the freshly inspected, painted engine mount, added new rubber cushion shocks. There is a lot of little things that can add up while replacing an engine. We found items that were the original parts, 1957, wow sure stretched life from those parts. Some parts should have been replaced during inspections. The rubber engine mounts had 1 from 1998, 1 from 1975 and 2 from 1957. Did you know that an item is cure dated when it is made. This tells you when it was made, and you can see how old the item is. Hose, mounts, tube etc.

THE NEW SHINNY ENGINE
My new engine is a Continental 470-L. New cylinders, valves and the works. See for yourself (Fig.5) We will be putting the plane up in the sky Sat. Sept. 11, 1999.

Fig. 1	Fig. 2	Fig. 3
Fig. 4	Fig. 5

My First Annual
Since my next annual was due in November 1999, I called Triad and made an appointment to bring my plane in. The person in charge of annual's is Mike. He has been doing this for a long time, and knows what is needed for a plane to pass inspection. He told me he would get back with me in about a week. The following week Mike called very upset. While performing the inspection he found approximately 45 concerns with the plane, including but not limited to poor quality of work by mechanics. Keep in mind, this plane has been flown only 60 hours since the last annual, which was performed by a local A&P in Roanoke Rapids, NC, it was logged that the plane passed all tests and complied with all AD'S and was found to be airworthy.

Why so many??? Because the previous owners and mechanics didn't seem to care about anything but making money and saving money. I am not saying that all mechanics over look items to get the work out, but when your life depends on their quality of work, make sure you select the right mechanic.

Well, alot has happened since I last up-dated this page. I can tell you that you had to be there to know what it is like, I am talking about the J.F.K disaster.
We were flying a Cessna 175 to Sun N Fun, and all was well from Roanoke Rapids, NC until we reached SC. We were in IFR conditions, and poof, out went the Vac. pump. In a matter of 60 sec's, we went from flying to diving at a 500ft@min rate. We popped out of the clouds 1200ft MSL and all you could see were trees. I can now understand that J.F.K. had no idea of his attitude until he hit the water.
My instructor had me re-do the almost fatal event, while he was in the plane, and we practiced how to recover. Make sure that you always fly with the attitude that it CAN HAPPEN TO ME!!!

My Check Ride:
On July 13, 2000 I received my signoff to go and take my private pilot check ride. You will be amaized how much a person can sweat in just a few hours. When it was all said and done, I only made 1 mistake. As the rules go, you have to report back to your instructor to get permission to re-take the test. I can honestly tell you that although it was embarasing not to pass the first time, it accually has made me aware of a small habit I was starting to form, in turn, has made me a better pilot. I can assure you, I will not make that mistake again!
Monday July 17, 2000 I finished my check ride and became an FAA approved General Avionic (GA) Pilot, single engine, land.

All information on this page is my opinion and the staff and management at The 3rddoor, Inc. may not be held liable in any way.

Blown Engine At 1200'"	470-L Engine	My First Annual
My Check Ride