If not perfect, damn close

Sitting on the ramp at Rectrix North FBO

Taxiing out for takeoff

It's been a month now since I flew over to Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport to look over this Cessna 172 SP, contemplating a purchase of same - and after a lot of paperwork, she's now all mine.   Well, mostly mine - the bank holds title and about fifty percent of the purchase cost, with me paying down the loan about 1,000 bucks a month.   I've had the opportunity to log perhaps six hours in the plane, while my son has flown it to Key West, Naples, and Ft. Meyers, Florida.  On Monday, she goes into the Sarasota Avionics shop to have some small "squawks" fixed, so we'll both be grounded for up to a week.  That shop is very busy, and they were working on several aircraft when we scheduled a nag/com upgrade, including a great looking O-2, which was
also known as a Cessna Skymaster, in genuine Vietnam era livery.  I've posted a clip art photo of the "push-pull" in-line engined twin, which Cessna sold as a model 337 to civilians.  The Air Force purchased 532 of this aircraft, with deliveries to SE Asia starting in March of 1967.  I got there in May of 1967 and got to ride in one (not assigned but as a broadcast journalist) later that same year.

USAF 0-2 - aka Cessna 337 Super Skymaster

When I was in Thailand, we had several of these planes, used by FAC's (Forward Air Controllers), and from Ubon field, they'd fly east toward Laos and Cambodia and spot North Vietnamese truck (and bicycle) traffic along the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Generally flown by young Lieutenants and Captains, these aircraft were so loaded down with smoke marker rockets and multiple radios they often were forced down by the loss of one of the two engines.  The last USAF O-2 was decommissioned in 2010, having served with distinction in the Vietnam War during the 1960's and 1970's.  It was powered by two 210 horsepower engines, cruised at 144 mph, could sprint up to 199 mph, and had a range of 1,060 miles and a ceiling of 19,300 feet.  As if you could see people from that high up.

If the O-2 is still over at the Avionics hanger, I'll try and get a picture of her to share.  The one I saw last week in Sarasota was an O-2A - complete with four underwing weapons stations.  A lesser number of O-2B's were used for psychological warfare, equipped with loudspeakers and provisions for leaflet drops.  The leaflets read Chu Hoi (surrender), but were used by the eventual winners (North Vietnamese) as toilet paper.
                                                                                                                                                                                                          My 172 is powered by one four cylinder 180 horsepower engine.  It has a 53 gallon fuel capacity and burns 100 octane low lead gasoline.   Oil capacity is 8 quarts, but we tend to fill to the minimum of six.  When we bought the plane, it had a bit over 1,300 hours total time (TT) and between JB and me over the month of December, we've added maybe twenty hours.  When the plane's engine gets to 2,000 hours. we'll have to start thinking about overhauling it, as recommended.  While the basic 172 Skyhawk goes back to the 1950's, the S model started in 1998, following the limited edition (96 & 97 172-R)  The R had 140 horses, my S has 180, and the Cessna 182 (a six person plane) runs 210 HP.

Cessna 172, tail number N817SP

So, far more than you probably ever wanted to know, with a bottom line of I love my plane, my son loves my plane, and someday he will actually be a CFI (certified flight instructor) and can actually teach his old man something.   And he won't get a dime out of me, as he's already done enough damage to the family net worth (per his mother, mind you) to equate this purchase with flushing money down the toilet and out into Sarasota Bay.  There's an old joke about the two happiest days of your life about boats - which also goes for planes.  The day you buy it, and the day you sell it.  I'm still basking in the radiance of that first part.