From the Cockpit – Early Cessna 172s

As originally presented, the Cessna 172 was a strut braced high wing four seater, differing from the 170 in its tricycle undercarriage and new squared up vertical tail surfaces. Equipment was minimal, the aircraft not even featuring a vacuum system to run gyro instruments in its standard form. The Model 172A of early 1960 introduced the first major external change to the aircraft in the form of the now familiar swept back fin and rudder and began the long evolutionary process which would eventually see the 172 series develop into over two dozen distinct variants and updates. The 172B appeared late in 1960, this model featuring overall paint, a vacuum pump, shorter undercarriage legs for easier boarding, a pushbutton starter and for the first time, the name ‘Skyhawk’, denoting a higher level of standard equipment over the basic 172. The 1962 Model 172C had the so-called ‘family seat’ for two children in the rear of the cabin as an option (the weight limit was 54kg/120lb), redesigned wingtips and optional wheel speed fairings.

The 1963 Model 172D introduced the next major change to the Skyhawk’s appearance with its cut down rear fuselage decking and wraparound rear window giving – to quote the brochures – “360 degree Omni-Vision”. Further refinement of the basic aircraft came with the 172E and 172F of 1964-65 with its electric instead of manually operated flaps and a flat floor as a result of the removal of the flap lever and tunnel from between the seats. The F was the first version of the 172 built by Reims Aviation in France and was powered by a Rolls-Royce built Continental O-300. To identify French built aircraft, they carried the designation F172. The 172F also found favour with the US military, 237 being supplied for the initial training of new USAF pilots as the T-41A Mescalero.

The 1966 172G was basically similar except for having a more pointed spinner, while the 1967 172H had a shorter nosewheel strut, differently shaped wheel speed fairings and new plastic wingtips. The Model 172H Skyhawk marked the end of production with the Continental O-300 engine. From 1968 (or late 1967 actually, as like many car manufacturers, Cessna introduced its new year’s models in the last few months of the previous year) the 172 would be powered by a four cylinder Lycoming O-320 engine. In France, Reims Aviation’s F172s retained the Rolls-Royce/Continental engine until 1971, after which Lycomings were installed.

Annual production figures for the 172 Skyhawk indicate the popularity of the aircraft and an era in which light aircraft manufacture was measured in thousands rather than the much more modest figures of today: 1955 – 173; 1956 – 1419; 1957 – 939; 1958 – 790; 1959 – 874; 1960 – 1015; 1961 – 903; 1962 – 889; 1963 – 1146; 1964 – 1401; 1965 – 1436; 1966 – 1597; 1967 – 839. After that, the Lycoming powered 172 was introduced and these figures exclude production by Reims, the Skylarks and the T-41 military models.

Variations on the Theme

These aircraft don’t represent the full Cessna 172 family during the period the basic aircraft was Continental powered.

The first major departure occurred in 1958 with the release of the Model 175, an aircraft designed to fill the gap between the 145hp (108kW) Model 172 and 230hp (170kW) Model 182. It was a 172 airframe fitted with a 175hp (130kW) Continental GO-300-C geared engine and distinguishable from its stablemate by a bump on the top of the engine cowling which covered the propeller gearing mechanism. A fixed pitch propeller was retained.

Several improved 175 versions were introduced over the years, basically following the innovations which appeared on the 172: the 1960 Model 175A with swept back tail, free blown windscreen, wheel speed fairings and the ‘luxury’ Skylark model; and subsequent B and C models with detailed refinements. Production ceased in late 1962 after 2119 had been built.

The Skylark theme continued in 1963 with the P172D ‘Powermatic’, which combined the 175’s engine (plus constant speed propeller) with the standard 172D’s wraparound rear window. The Powermatic’s production life was brief and just 70 were built.

The next attempt at a more powerful Cessna 172 came in 1966 with the R172E with 210hp (156kW) Continental IO-360-D six cylinder engine and constant speed propeller. This variant was built in large numbers for the US military and other nations as the T-41B, C and D with minor variations. Reims Aviation also built nearly 600 of these more powerful 172s as the FR172 Reims Rocket between 1967 and 1977.

Flying and Buying

Probably the 172’s greatest asset over the years has been its ‘user friendliness’ with benign handling which discourages serious misuse through controls which are on the heavy side (especially the elevators) and excellent low speed handling characteristics which can help the most ham-fisted pilot look reasonably good.

While everything about the 172’s personality can probably be described as “average” (handling, performance etc), its safety record seems to be definitely above average, probably thanks to that benign handling, especially at low speeds where the heavy elevator and low stall speed tend to discourage nasty situations developing.

It’s interesting to note that in the USA at least, the 172’s worst safety performance is in the area of midair collisions, probably a function of its high wing and the lack of visibility in turns which results from that. Overall, the 172 has the best safety record of any of the four seat fixed undercarriage and single engined light aircraft and even the worst aspects of its record – collisions and accidents during missed approaches – are only ‘average’ (naturally!) among its peers.

The Continental O-300 engine is one of general aviation’s antiques in these modern times and can therefore be expensive to overhaul by comparison with most of the Lycoming O-320 variants fitted to later Skyhawks. We say ‘most’ deliberately because as we’ll discuss next month, some of the later 172s had big problems with a particular Lycoming O-320 variant. The O-300’s time between overhaul at 1800 hours is 200 hours less than the Lycoming and with two more cylinders to look after the O-300 is obviously going to cost more to maintain.

Anyone contemplating the purchase of a Continental powered 172 is looking at an old aeroplane. After all, the last 172H was built in 1967 and is therefore not much less than 30 years old. With old age comes wear and tear, high hours, an engine that may be into its third or fourth life, the possibility of corrosion and so on. On the other hand, a buyer may be lucky enough to find one which didn’t spend much of its early life thrashing around circuits with students on board, or bush bashing and has a recently refurbished interior and avionics upgrade. And as always, beware what a new coat of paint may be hiding. If you can find a genuinely good one, an old 172 can still provide the virtues which made it so popular when it was new – reliability, utility and honesty.

How Much?

The Skyhawk has long been the most numerous aircraft on the Australian civil register, and as a result, there’s usually a good selection for sale at any given time. In mid 1995 there were 957 of all models registered, plus 25 Skylarks. The following is intended as an indication of prices and reflects aircraft advertised for sale in Australia over the past few months. Prices are in Australian dollars and the range quoted usually indicates the total hours flown or more importantly, the hours remaining before overhaul of the engine and propeller is due. Two aircraft of similar vintage can be priced very differently because of these variables (plus the general condition of the aircraft) with very low prices usually indicating not many engine hours remaining. Conversely, higher prices will reflect an engine with plenty of hours to run.

172A – $30,000; 172B – $21-29,000; 172F – $32-38,500; 172H – $41-50,000. A single 1960 Model 175 Skylark has been recently advertised for $42,000.

It will be interesting to see if the availability of new production 172s in the coming year has any effect on the prices of second hand aircraft.

Next month: Later model Cessna 172s.