I got a fixed gear 182 a little over a year ago and love it. I was looking for a 177RG because I used one for my commercial certificate. However, I came across the 182 I got and couldn’t pass it up. The RG gives a little more speed, but adds some cost to annuals and insurance. In the end, my plane was a good compromise for the kind of flying I do. It is as fast as the 177RG and roomier. I don’t miss the RG since I’m usually not in that big of a hurry.
My current plane ended up with a lot nicer avionics that I was looking for. It has an Avidyne IFD-540, an STEC-30 autopilot, an engine analyzer and a Pponk engine with 270HP. Instrument flight is so easy with this. Looking back at my needs, a good set of avionics, including the auto-pilot and GPS navigator are now higher than RG or a few more knots of speed.
I found my plane when a member of the
Cessna Pilots Society [
cessna-pilots.net] has some medical issues and decided to sell his plane to another Society member. I wasn’t actually looking very hard, but had in the back of my mind I wanted to upgrade. The opportunity arose and I jumped on it.
It is all about the mission for the plane. Enjoy the search and good luck in finding your dream plane soon.
