Guide Is Out

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Good Evening Folks,The C185 Pilot's Guide Book is out. You can get it here:C185 Pilot's GuideYou may need to scroll to the bottom of the page, but it's the last entry on that page. Can't miss it. Hope you find it useful :(Thanks to Don (Bushpounder) for hosting it for me.

[driver101 18]

Glenn,Thank you for all your work and time you invested!You did an outstanding job!

[Guest]

Absolutely AWESOME! This is exactly what I like: real life prcodures and information to fly this plane as you should and would in real life. Haven't read it all yet, but I certainly will! I really love information like when to use the Fuel pump (only during starts and emergency, I seenow): great! This is what makes the experience complete for me! :( One question (for now :( ): somehow I am always interested in when to turn which lights on and off (the more I have to do in the cockpit, the more I like it). However, in your pdf you only mention the lights in the checklist, during Pre-takeoff: Lights - AS REQ'D (usually not). So... you usually don't use any lights or did you presume everyone knows when to use what lights?EDIT:I've read most of it (I skipped the float and ski parts): it's a fun read ("They also have a lot of moment and any twisting and turning while on a takeoff roll on your part can lead to an unexpected 'cross country' flight at very low altitude to regions you had never planned to go to, and really wished you hadn't gone." :( ). Another question though: it's not clear to me at which speeds I can begin to lower the flaps... Does the speed have to be in the white arc before I can go to 10 degrees of flap? I always have the feeling I have to slow down way too much before I can start using the flaps.

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Absolutely AWESOME! This is exactly what I like: real life prcodures and information to fly this plane as you should and would in real life. Haven't read it all yet, but I certainly will! I really love information like when to use the Fuel pump (only during starts and emergency, I seenow): great! This is what makes the experience complete for me! :( One question (for now :( ): somehow I am always interested in when to turn which lights on and off (the more I have to do in the cockpit, the more I like it). However, in your pdf you only mention the lights in the checklist, during Pre-takeoff: Lights - AS REQ'D (usually not). So... you usually don't use any lights or did you presume everyone knows when to use what lights?EDIT:I've read most of it (I skipped the float and ski parts): it's a fun read ("They also have a lot of moment and any twisting and turning while on a takeoff roll on your part can lead to an unexpected 'cross country' flight at very low altitude to regions you had never planned to go to, and really wished you hadn't gone." :( ). Another question though: it's not clear to me at which speeds I can begin to lower the flaps... Does the speed have to be in the white arc before I can go to 10 degrees of flap? I always have the feeling I have to slow down way too much before I can start using the flaps.

Many thanks - I'm glad you are enjoying the guide! That's great.OK, to answer your question, one has to keep in mind I'm a bush pilot (man, did I just leave the 'door' wide open with that comment B) !), and in the boonies traffic density is light, to say the least. As I recall, I only used the rotating beacon and never strobes (when I actually had strobes, which was very rare, and even rarer if they worked!), so that's why I put that as I did. Realistically, especially if flying in more built up regions, you want to use your lights. During the day you are likely going only with your rotating beacon and the strobes. At night, add your running lights (Nav lights). Also, at night, I tend to leave the strobes off until I'm actually doing my pre-takeoff checks because they are very bright and can annoy you and other pilots that are near you. So again, I use the rotating beacon and maybe nav lights right after engine start as I'm getting the rest of the electrics on, and then go with strobes (and landing lights if at night) as I'm ready to taxi out on to the runway.On the flaps issue, remember that the 185 is nowhere near as "slippery" as something like a light twin (i.e. Seneca) for instance. Because there is a lot of drag with this airplane anyway, and it's much heavier than a 172, once you come back on the power, it's going to come down very much more quickly than the 172 or Seneca. So flaps are reserved for base to short final only for the most part. During the normal descent to the pattern, you want to carry 15" of power at least, to keep the engine from over cooling. However, once you get in the pattern, you are more or less levelled off and you'll find that you'll need more power again to keep it there. Otherwise it will start slowing down on you rather rapidly (remember, you are now in level flight). Now, once you turn base or final (better final in the 185), you can start coming right back on the power and again because you are level, that machine is going to start slowing fairly rapidly on you. As soon as you get to 100 mph, drop 10 degrees of flap. That will start slowing you even faster so you either need a fair bit more power now, or you need to drop the nose. As you get to short final, add another 20 degrees of flap and carry enough power to control your angle.Now, I think you can actually lower 10 degrees at about 130 mph, but I don't do that. That's fairly quick for this airplane and given how quickly it does slow down, it's unnecessary stress on the aircraft. Especially in the bush, you leave flaps until about 1/2 to 1/4 mile final. This means if you have to go around, you can, and you have pretty good speed control just with parasite and induced drag anyway.Does that answer your question? Rather a long, drawn out answer I realize, but it's important to understand why things are done as they are, not just how. Please post with a, "What???" if this doesn't click for you (chances are it won't for others either if one person is having trouble with it).

Glenn,Thank you for all your work and time you invested!You did an outstanding job!

Many thanks for this! Very much appreciated. B)

[Guest]

Oh, you are a bush pilot? No kidding? (Door can be closed now.) :( :( Thanks for the long answer! In this case I like long a lot. :(

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Oh, you are a bush pilot? No kidding? (Door can be closed now.) :( :( Thanks for the long answer! In this case I like long a lot. :(

B) Good one. Hope it helped but don't hesitate to drop a line if there are still questions B)

[ega 25]

Glenn,Many thanks for the C185 Guide! It is a very interesting reading!All the bestEdmundo

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Glenn,Many thanks for the C185 Guide! It is a very interesting reading!All the bestEdmundo

Thank you - glad you enjoyed it :(

[rosariomanzo 0]

Awesome, many thanks!

[spotlope 0]

I just read it all the way through. Very nice work, Glenn! I feel as if I know the 185 much better. Now, to practice...

[raymar 483]

I just read it all the way through. Very nice work, Glenn! I feel as if I know the 185 much better. Now, to practice...

I was going to be out all afternoon so I thought, I'll just print it out and take it with me to the golf course. As luck would have it, i put it in the golf cart and a few pages blew out, as I was chasing them down, more came out. When I got all, or almost all the pages in one place, I realized there are no page numbers. Ouch. Well, I have read it all, and it is interesting even if I had a few pages out of order or totally missing. Let me see now, do I land first, then takeoff, well, that depends on what page I started on. The only thing I knew for sure was the first and last page, well, I'm not so sure about the last page.But, should you decide to add some more thoughts down the road, please see if that newfangled machine has a pagination key. LOL. Thanks for your keen interest in this plane.I was a CFI 'bout a hundred years ago and I taught a lawyer how to fly, then his partner, then his insurance agent friend, then the partners daughter, you get the drift. Well, the original lawyer came home with the paperwork for an Aero Commander 560 purchased the DAY he got his PPL. The partner bought a 210, then later the AC560 guy buys a C-185. He calls me and asks if I can fly it home for him, about 200 miles or so. I did, but I had never been in a taildragger other than a ride in a J-3 cub once and a Luscombe 8a once. I damn near ground looped it on my first ever landing. I had more than 4,000 hours tt at the time. Well, after the lawyer ground looped it the third time he sold it and bought a 210. A much better choice for him, last I heard he was still alive and working on an instrument rating.That day I flew in home for the first time, (he was following me in a Cessna 150) after I was safely on the ground I realized I didn't really know how to taxi that sucker. I guess your survival instincts take over when you are scared shi*less but don't want the student to know that you don't know how to taxi a Cessna. Well, this ain't your cousins Cessna. I actually did what you suggested and was zig zagging all over the taxiway and other parts of the airport. We had a non-federal control tower and the girl in the tower asked if I would taxi to base of the tower for a conversation. I actually told her I would drive my car to the tower once I got this sucker tied down. She really didn't argue with me. I guess she figured if I couldn't follow the yellow brick road, I might not want to carry on a conversation with her at the time anyway. When I showed up, she wanted to know what the heck was going on with that taxi stunt. I told her the plane had mechanical difficulties but we would have it fixed before we flew it again. Back up the stairs she went. True story.RayM

[Guest BeaverDriver]

I was going to be out all afternoon so I thought, I'll just print it out and take it with me to the golf course. As luck would have it, i put it in the golf cart and a few pages blew out, as I was chasing them down, more came out. When I got all, or almost all the pages in one place, I realized there are no page numbers. Ouch. Well, I have read it all, and it is interesting even if I had a few pages out of order or totally missing. Let me see now, do I land first, then takeoff, well, that depends on what page I started on. The only thing I knew for sure was the first and last page, well, I'm not so sure about the last page.But, should you decide to add some more thoughts down the road, please see if that newfangled machine has a pagination key. LOL. Thanks for your keen interest in this plane.I was a CFI 'bout a hundred years ago and I taught a lawyer how to fly, then his partner, then his insurance agent friend, then the partners daughter, you get the drift. Well, the original lawyer came home with the paperwork for an Aero Commander 560 purchased the DAY he got his PPL. The partner bought a 210, then later the AC560 guy buys a C-185. He calls me and asks if I can fly it home for him, about 200 miles or so. I did, but I had never been in a taildragger other than a ride in a J-3 cub once and a Luscombe 8a once. I damn near ground looped it on my first ever landing. I had more than 4,000 hours tt at the time. Well, after the lawyer ground looped it the third time he sold it and bought a 210. A much better choice for him, last I heard he was still alive and working on an instrument rating.That day I flew in home for the first time, (he was following me in a Cessna 150) after I was safely on the ground I realized I didn't really know how to taxi that sucker. I guess your survival instincts take over when you are scared shi*less but don't want the student to know that you don't know how to taxi a Cessna. Well, this ain't your cousins Cessna. I actually did what you suggested and was zig zagging all over the taxiway and other parts of the airport. We had a non-federal control tower and the girl in the tower asked if I would taxi to base of the tower for a conversation. I actually told her I would drive my car to the tower once I got this sucker tied down. She really didn't argue with me. I guess she figured if I couldn't follow the yellow brick road, I might not want to carry on a conversation with her at the time anyway. When I showed up, she wanted to know what the heck was going on with that taxi stunt. I told her the plane had mechanical difficulties but we would have it fixed before we flew it again. Back up the stairs she went. True story.RayM

NUTS!!!!! :( I did an update on it last night and one other guy asked me to paginate it, and that's the only thing I left out!!! Jeez! I just gotta stop this getting older bit! I'll try to get a new copy with the page numbers uploaded tomorrow. If I can't get it where it is now, I'll give you another link to get it from. Sheesh, sorry about that.Super story!! Yeah, people get a little surprised when they first try to taxi a 185. Never mind that, just try landing in a bad crosswind. Fortunately almost all my hours on the machine are on floats which are easier to get along with, but still, I had a very 'interesting' moments myself. Now, if you were still on the taxiway, then the girl in the tower had no business asking you what you were doing. She's obviously never seen a 185 before. However, if you went cross-country while on the ground, yeah, I could see that raising a few eyebrows . Anyway, good to hear from another 185 driver! Hope you got/get another chance to have a go at her again. They are an outstanding airplane, and while there are lakes I would take a Beaver into that I wouldn't run a 185 to, I still love flying her. Thanks for this, and sorry for the lack of page numbers. I'll try to get that fixed for tomorrow :( .

[Guest dusty_sourdough_574]

Yeah, I thought I did not see the page numbers. Thought it was my & my eyes playin tricks.Great stuff bud regardless!

[raymar 483]

Yeah, I thought I did not see the page numbers. Thought it was my & my eyes playin tricks.Great stuff bud regardless!

I never flew the 185 again other than that one ferry trip and crazy taxi event. The lawyer got pis*ed at me because I wouldn't check him out in it. He wasn't smart enough to know that I couldn't check him out when I couldn't handle it myself. He chose to base it at a sister airport about 3 miles away. I was actually incorrect about only being in two tail draggers, I had a DC-3 type rating at the time. Somehow, the two just don't handle the same, but the view out the window is quite similar.Good to hear a patch is on the way for page numbers. Yeah!.RayM

[Guest dusty_sourdough_574]

Smart lawyer?That's almost an oxymoron, cept I did meet one or two that were human and intelligent.Cool story, enjoyed it.