Formation Training

Last year was the 50th anniversary of the Cessna 172 and 182, and for part of the celebration a giant gaggle of Cessnas was organized (www.c2o.us) and flown in formation to Oshkosh's Airventure, the annual Mecca of aviation (http://www.airventure.org/index.html). I signed up, bought the T-shirts (literally), and got all the required formation training. Alas, the morning of departure I fell down the stairs at home, carrying a pot of coffee that miraculously didn't spill a drop, so we didn't go. This year gives another opportunity, so I joined up with Fred Johnson, the organizer, and several others at Independence, Kansas, for a day of training. Fred flew his 206 from Tampa the day prior just to train us up; the others came from Kansas and Missouri.

Why Independence? First, a history lesson. There have been two essential periods of piston-engine Cessna production; the first, beginning in the earliest days of aviation, saw development of the most amazing variety of airplanes ever seen. For the typical high-wing, all-metal, single-engine Cessna (like our 182), one only needs to dig back to 1946, when the company rolled out the Models 120 and 140, a two-seat taildragger that today, 60 years and counting down the river, is instantly recognizable - it has that "Cessna look."

(image courtesy the International Cessna 120-140 Association)

Cessna literally filled the skies of the world with small airplanes as it developed model after model, each a little different (some would say better) than the ones prior. The 1970s were the peak of production; planes poured from the Cessna factory in Wichita. In 1986 it was all over: Prices had skyrocketed, planes weren't being sold, product liability was killing the company's bottom line (an accident in a 1940s-vintage Cessna could bring multi-million-dollar awards due to "defective design" - huh?) and the company, freshly bought by General Dynamics, shut its piston engine lines (although its jets, the Citation series, continued to be built and sold in large numbers).

In 1992, Cessna was bought by Textron, and the CEO made repeated public statements to the effect of, "If you bring product liability reform, we'll start building them again." My old AOPA Pilot magazines have article after article about the hopes reborn in civil aviation that new Cessnas would be built again. That happened in the mid-1990s: An 18-year statute of limitations was introduced, the company built an enormous plant in Independence, and in 1996 Cessna 172s and 182s began rolling out of the assembly buildings once again.

Wichita had been the traditional home for aircraft production for decades; indeed, Beechcraft is still there (on its own airfield, no less), Learjets first see air under their wings there, and Cessna has continued to build its Citation series of jets in its Wichita plant. For restarting its piston line, though, Cessna chose to go elsewhere. Independence, a little town in far-eastern Kansas, enticed the executives, and a nice airport with a large runway and rampfuls of freshly minted airplanes are the very pleasant results.

So, to Independence I went on Saturday, March 10th. Training began at 9:00 sharp; I didn't want to stay the night there, which meant an early morning departure, 5:30 to be exact. I was greeted with the sun rising over the frozen farmland of Iowa off my left wing:

Arriving at Independence I found the FBO on the south end of the ramp; the lineman gave me a ride to the Cessna plant, where the ground training would take place, and dropped me off at a door on the ramp side of the factory building. I just walked right in - no security checkpoint, no factory workers, just a giant, seemingly deserted and utterly silent factory filled with planes in varying states of assembly, including the only jets made here, the new Cessna Mustang "very light jet." I finally ran into a security guard, who confiscated my camera (I hadn't taken any pictures, thank Heavens) and got me to the right room.

A Cessna Mustang undergoing flight test that day

Fred gave us about two hours of ground training, then off we went to lunch in downtown Independence; the return trip was my first ride in the back of a pickup truck since I was a kid, and we scanned mightily for the sheriff for a while, but no one seemed to care. After lunch it was flight training time; Fred flew with me on the first flight, with Rich and Suzie Bowden in #1 (lead) position and Tim Winters and his friend Jim on the other wing.

In #3 position

The Bowdens' beautiful 1962 Cessna 172

Tim Winters and Jim in Tim's 1958 182

We did a few distancing maneuvers and switched places in the formation a few times before heading back to IDP. When we arrived, Craig Chipley had arrived from Missouri (he'd been fogged in) so we went out again for the same drill, this time without Tim.

Craig's 172, another older "fastback" model

Fred flew with Craig and took this nice shot of 55R off their left wing:

Fred's 206 with Craig's "Big Orange"

The Cessna factory - each plane is worth a minimum of $200,000

It struck me while looking at all those new Cessnas on the ramp that with the exception of Fred, whose plane is a 1968 model, none of our group's aircraft were younger than 40 years old. And all of them looked just as good, and are every bit as fun to fly, as those new ones on the ramp. Having gone through the restoration process of 55R and having seen the workmanship crafted into her airframe in 1964, and comparing that to the quality of work I've seen in newer Cessnas I've flown and taught in, I'm convinced that the older models are better built and likely will last longer without as many problems. Just my opinion, of course.

Rich and Suzie Bowden, me, Fred Johnson, Tim Winters, Craig Chipley, Jim ?

The flight home was very quiet and, well, straight. I landed at Anoka around 8:30 that night, after more than 10 hours of flying, and for the first time in my flying life saw one day's sunrise and sunset from the air.