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VOL 15 ISSUE 05 MAY 2018 cessnaflyer.org CESSNA 400: High-speed Cruiser page 44 Complying with McFarlane SB-9, Revision A – Universal Joints Aerial Fire Detection Mike McRobert grew up around his father’s airplane in Kansas City and fol- lowed him into the cockpit as a dedicated flyer. Then life came along, and as is so often the case, he left the cockpit for a number of years. When the opportunity again presented itself to take to the skies, Mike jumped back in with both feet. He had specific desires for his new airplane and, not finding it in any one option, set out on a path few others attempt at one time. The project, which he calls The Making of N182AP, ended up as a tip- to-tail refurbishment and upgrade of a Cessna 182 with Air Plains Services in Wellington, Kansas, as the prime contractor. Making of N182AP be- came my quest to find THE “what’s next” when my wife Anita and I became empty-nesters a few years back. After 20 years of airline travel, (and hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles) I have no desire to The Making of crawl onto another commercial flight to go somewhere to supposedly relax. No, the thought of me doing the flying N182AP: Part One took hold of me. Someday seeing Alaska again, as I did in 1984, from a General Aviation perspective, was incredibly appealing. Anita’s desire to see Mount Rushmore and fly the Grand Canyon Finding a high-performance, economical and nearly-new added incentives toward The Making aircraft on a tight budget is a nearly-impossible task. of N182AP. It would be our version of taking a motorhome to see the country, That’s why MICHAEL P. McROBERT bought a legacy albeit from 4,000 to 18,000 feet. Cessna 182 airframe, and with the help of Air Plains The Making of N182AP was not in- P h expensive, nor is a project of this size o t o : Services and others, stripped it down and built it for the faint of heart. It takes time. Some C o n t might even tell me I am tremendously r o back up again as a 300 hp Air Plains l l e r upside-down in what N182AP could be . c o m “Extra Performance” 182XP. sold for today. To those people, I’d say that my entrance cost into N182AP is roundly 60 percent of what a new Turbo C182 would cost. I’m careful with the phrase “better than new,” but I prefer the normally-aspirated big-bore 300 hp Teledyne Continental IO-550 engine I’m now flying behind versus a “restart” Cessna T182 Turbo Skylane’s engine. I also prefer my separate digital avionics and JPI EDM 930 engine monitor versus an integrated flight deck. N182AP is new, firewall-forward and back. Granted, it’s a 40-year-old airframe, but the aircraft is a great performer and has operating costs I can live with. Learning to fly My first recollections of General Avia- tion are from about age 3. My father, Dr. L.M. McRobert, had an orthodontic practice which started in Kansas City CESSNA FLYER (36) MAY 2018 CESSNA FLYER (37) MAY 2018 and later expanded throughout northeast into a cockpit on a low-wing aircraft. went through all the Sporty’s study apps Missouri. Dad used General Aviation to Anita, my wife of 35 years, and I for private pilot, instrument rating, flight get to his various offices and he used GA regularly flew that 182 from its base at review and IPC as I was waiting to get in for family travel as well. Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport for my medical. I had flown all over the country with (KMKC) to Reeds Spring, Missouri, near It was a thrill that day when I broke my father in a Cessna 175, Cessna 182, Branson and Table Rock Lake, for lake the ground in a Piper Arrow at KMKC. Piper Comanche 260, Beechcraft Baron weekends. We used a private grass strip, Flying seemed to come back quickly and and a Cessna 404 by the time I was 16. Emmerson’s, with about 1,800 feet of it was like I’d never been away; we even It was almost a foregone conclusion that runway. It was cut between the trees on a shot an approach that day. I wanted to learn to fly. I was fortunate hillside. I’m fairly certain that Anita remem- As we were taxiing in from that first that my father allowed—well, maybe bet- bers every landing and takeoff at Emmer- flight, I asked my CFII how many more ter to say “made”—that happen. son’s, as it was a tight, high density altitude flights he thought it might take before Dad gave me the opportunity to learn airport during the summer months. he turned me loose, to which he replied, to fly in a Cessna 150 out of (now-closed) Four years later, I sold the 182, since “if you can pass the ground portion, I’m Fairfax Municipal Airport (KCK) in my father purchased a straight-leg Turbo signing a flight review today, but it will be Kansas City, Kansas, beginning in 1975. Piper Saratoga and another Piper Seneca a few more flights before I’ll sign off on My training was complete at age 16; I III. He owned the two aircraft, with one an instrument proficiency check.” had to wait a couple of weeks for my on lease, for a few years. I did well on the ground review that day 17th birthday to be able to take my pri- I joined a hotel management firm in the and drove away from KMKC beaming. I vate pilot checkride. late 1990s. The company acquired a Sen- was once again a legal pilot. Maybe six eca III which I flew a couple of hundred flights later, I also had an instrument pro- Broadening my horizons hours until it was sold in late 2001. My ficiency check in my logbook. At the time, I was 6 feet 4 inches tall flying essentially stopped the day I deliv- and weighed 300 pounds. The Cessna Ownership decisions 150 I learned in was a tight fit and I im- I wanted to make sure I was Now that I was flying more and enjoy- mediately transitioned into a Cessna 172 ing flying, I wanted more—a familiar as soon as I gained my private pilot cer- completely honest with myself story from pilots. Anita and I were now tificate. I flew a mix of Pipers throughout as I planned to reenter aircraft empty-nesters; the affordability of own- college, including the Comanche 180, ownership and operation. ing an aircraft again was enticing. I start- Cherokee 180, Archer and Arrow IV. ed considering ownership, first looking After graduating, I came back to Kansas for an airplane to buy into or a partner- City and joined a large accounting firm, ered the company Seneca III to the new ship to join. first as a staff accountant, then as a CPA. owner, with my total time sitting around Ultimately, I wanted to make sure I While I often rented a local Cherokee 180, 1,800 hours. was completely honest with myself as I Mike McRobert (right), and his father, Dr. L. M. McRobert. I was soon given an opportunity to get my My father was still flying. In the late planned to re-enter aircraft ownership multi-engine rating in a Piper Seneca III 1990s, he purchased a very nice, fully and operation. I was 57 years old in early that my father had on leaseback with the equipped Beechcraft B36 Bonanza. Being 2016 as I started looking in earnest and Monte encouraged me to just go fly which Monte responded, “I’m never lowance for the annual inspection, avion- FBI. The FBI returned the aircraft early, what I refer to as “long from the waist understood that my “days were num- his 1975 Cessna 182P. He also put me selling that airplane.” ics subscription updates, etc. yielding greater access to the twin. up,” I had to fly the plane with my head bered”—in both flying and in life. through turbine transition training in his Then I asked Monte to sell me half. I then estimate around $400 an hour After obtaining my multi-engine rating, at an angle, which I just never got com- Pilots are infamous for always wanting Cessna P210 Silver Eagle conversion. Monte stated he didn’t want a partner. for ongoing operating costs of fuel and I was still a relatively low-time pilot with fortable with. As badly as I wanted to fly bigger, faster and higher, but with each Monte’s 182P was no ordinary 182. It consumables. Now, I’ve had a lot of few multi-engine hours. The insurance it—it was a gorgeous aircraft with incred- of those comes added cost. I give myself was an Air Plains Services Continental IO- Weighing the options Baron drivers tell me I’m nuts and that company required several conditions be ible abilities—I think I put less than 10 some credit for being realistic and not 520 300 hp conversion, which Air Plains My early accounting experience, coupled it doesn’t cost that much, but I’ve also met for me to be covered in the Seneca III. hours on the Bonanza. My father shortly getting stuck with something that either I calls the 182XP.