Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
I would be very surprised to see a serial number specific Flight Manual for a C152, I don't recall ever seeing one, I think they were generic back then for the small Cessnas. Any weights quoted in the Flight Manual would be generic in any case.
However, what is relevant, and could be expected to be with the aircraft would be the original Cessna factory weight and balance. It's usually in a wad of weight and balance documents stuffed in a pocket somewhere. A rainy day review of that document, and the subsequent W&B revisions can produce surprising information. Do they pass the sanity test one to the next? Would it appear that what was changed from one revision to the next justifies the change in weight stated?
That's where I see mistakes, typos and transposition errors much too often....
Prior to 1976 officially there was no such thing as a POH. All that was required was the appropriate limitation placarded in the cockpit. However all manufacturers issued what was in effect an owners manual.
In 1976 however as a result of a GAMA initiative virtually all of the manufacturers adopted a standard format POH which then became a required document. When ordering a POH from the manufacturer you have to provide the serial number of the aircraft it is for and the front page of these will have a space to record the serial number.
Since all C 152's were built in 1978 or later it will have a proper POH. For C 150's however only the last 2 years of production, 1976/1977, have a proper POH. I used to teach at a school that had 2 1976 C 150M's.