The Cessna 180 is a four- or six-seat, fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which was produced between 1953 and 1981. Though the design is no longer in production, many of these aircraft are still in use as personal aircraft and in utility roles such as bush flying.

Development

Cessna introduced the heavier and more powerful 180 as a complement to the Cessna 170. It eventually came to be known as the Skywagon, a name first applied only to the more-powerful 185.

The prototype Cessna 180, N41697, first flew on May 26, 1952. Cessna engineering test pilot William D. Thompson was at the controls.

In all its versions, 6,193 Cessna 180s were manufactured. In 1956, a tricycle gear version of this design was introduced as the Cessna 182, which came to bear the name Skylane. Additionally, in 1960, Cessna introduced a heavier, more powerful sibling to the 180, the conventional gear Cessna 185. For a time, all three versions of the design were in production.

Design

The airframe of the 180 is all metal, constructed of aluminum alloy. The fuselage is a semi-monocoque structure, with exterior skin sheets riveted to formers and longerons. The strut-braced wings, likewise, are constructed of exterior skin sheets riveted to spars and ribs. The landing gear of the 180 is in a conventional arrangement, with main gear legs made of spring steel, and a steerable tailwheel mounted on a hollow tapered steel tube.

The Continental O-470-A of was installed in the 1953 model, which uniquely has no baggage door. The Continental O-470-J, also of , replaced the -A model in 1954 and 1955, and was succeeded by the O-470-K from 1956 through 1961, by the O-470-R from 1962 through 1972, by the O-470-S from 1973 through 1976, and by the O-470-U from 1977 through the end of production.

Cessna 180s produced between 1953 and 1963 have two side windows, while 1964 to 1981 models feature three side windows, as they feature the same fuselage as the Cessna 185. Some late production 1962 Cessna 180s were also known to have the three windows as well.



180s can be put on floats if they are equipped with float kits, which are essentially reinforcing members installed at high-stress points of the fuselage.

Operational history

The 180 is considered a workhorse of an airplane, and is favored to this day as a bush plane by many who fly to and from remote, unimproved airstrips in places such as Alaska and distant parts of Canada, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. The 180 is the preferred aircraft of the Colorado Division of Wildlife for monitoring wildlife and re-stocking fish in remote mountain lakes; it is also used by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The New Mexico State Police Aircraft Division was created after it acquired its first aircraft, a fixed wing Cessna 180, on loan from the State Corporation Commission.

The Canadian airlines Lamb Air and Norcanair operated several 180s. A number of 180s continue in similar roles at Kenmore Air in Washington, Alaska Seaplane Service, and Brazil's Lider Taxi Aereo.

Record flight

The Cessna 180 gained recognition as the aircraft chosen by Geraldine Mock, the first woman pilot to successfully fly around the world. The flight was made in 1964 in her 1953 model, the Spirit of Columbus (N1538C), as chronicled in her book Three-Eight Charlie. The Cessna factory obtained the aircraft and kept it at the Pawnee (Wichita, Kansas) manufacturing plant after the epic flight, suspended from the ceiling over one of the manufacturing lines. It is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

Aircraft Type Club

The Cessna 180 is supported by an active aircraft type club, The Cessna Pilots Association.

Operators

Military operators

19 Cessna 180s were in service with both the Australian Army and RAAF from 1959 to 1974.

• Royal Australian Air Force
  • No. 16 Air Observation Post Flight RAAF
• Australian Army Aviation
  • No. 16 Army Light Aircraft Flight
  • No. 161 Independent Reconnaissance Flight - The Australian Army operated a number of Cessna 180s as surveillance aircraft with the 161 Reconnaissance Flight (call sign "Possum") during the Vietnam War.
• {
• : Royal Thai Navy
• : Uruguayan Air Force

Civil Operators

• Iowa State Patrol for air traffic patrol, and ground spotting.

Specifications (1978 Cessna 180 II landplane)

See also

References

1. Mock, Jerrie: Three-Eight Charlie, First Edition, 1970. ISBN 75118975
2. RAAF Museum website Cessna 180 page retrieved on 9 January 2009.
3. "Air Forces of the World", Flight International magazine, 24-30 July 1996, p29-60.
4. Jewish Virtual Library - Israeli Air Force Cessna 180 page retrieved on 9 January 2009.
5. Gaines, Mike. "World's Air Forces 1982", Flight International magazine, 6 November 1982, p1327-1388.

• Type certificate data sheet no. 5A6. Revision 66. (Mar. 31, 2003.) Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration.

External links

• International 180-185 Club
• National Air and Space Museum exhibit of Jerry Mock's Cessna 180, "Spirit of Columbus"
• FAA N1538C "Spirit of Columbus" Returns to Public Display at the NASM's Steven Udvar-Hazy Center