Airplane of the Month • July  2003

The Club has owned this airplane for four years. It has only 1,650 hours total time and the engine has never been overhauled. The airplane is in nearly pristine condition, with no corrosion, though the original paint (now 38 years old!) is scratched in places and showing a little wear.

N9YX has performed flawlessly as a club mascot. Club director Royson Parsons has flown the airplane from California to Oshkosh twice, and twice to the club National Fly-In in Clinton, Iowa, with  each journey consisting of 5-6 long days of flying and more than 50 hours airborne.

The airplane has also admirably served as guinea pig for numerous club test flight and upgrade projects. During the last four years we've added an external oil filter, modern avionics, an all new interior, high performance wing tips, both rudder and wing strobes, and a multi channel EGT/CHT. Though the engine is running well, with good compressions on all cylinders, we  know that the time for an engine overhaul is near. After all, the engine is also now 38 years old, and approaching official Tach TBO (it's more than tripled it's expected chronological TBO).

Why is the airplane in such good shape after all these years? The club is only the second owner. The first owner, Dave Ward, of Saskatchewan, Canada babied the airplane. It was always hangared in Canada's dry Midwestern country for it's first 34 years. We've continued the tradition, with the airplane always hangared, except of course when on one of our long cross country adventures. We change the oil every 25 hours and promptly fix all squawks, though the airplane has been essentially trouble free the entire time we've owned it.

The club has now purchased yet another Cessna 150 (our third) a 1971 Aerobat with a 160 HP engine in need of some TLC. The Aerobat will likely consume much of our energy during the next two years, with upgrades and refurbishment to be covered in detail in the club newsletter. As a result, we anticipate saying goodbye to N9YX after we overhaul the engine this winter. In the meantime, she seems to know she's spending her last months with us, and is on her very best behavior, climbing more briskly and flying more smoothly than ever.
[Posted July 1, 2003]