Fast cruise in a Cessna 152

[Pace]

Molesworth

Heard all those as well as if your inverted in one your probably in Australia as for engine start? "Wind the propellor between 30 and 50 times before letting go".

Pace

[Fuji Abound]

I know of a 152 POH making up for a missing leg in my old flying club but you cant remove it becaue the coffee table would fall over - does that count?

Is there such a thing as a high speed cruise in a 152 i thought they only did slow speed to slow medium speed

Pace - now I know you are an optomist - delete the medium and you are just a realist. The one time I tried one I found as I opened the throttle the noise got a bit louder, but nothing else seemed to happen.

[Molesworth 1]

The PA28s at my flying club go even slower.

[Piper19]

I always cruise at 2350rpm, gives me 95kts, done that for years, that's also how I did learn it. 100kts would be possible but keep cruise below 75%.
152 and speed just don't go together (altough I used to think it was fast when I transitioned from the Cub)

[Molesworth 1]

Piper19. That sounds like a good compromise.

When I did my skills test I had a rather large examiner and I worked out that with the two of us there was room for only 5 gallons of fuel! Needless to say we needed more than that for a two hour checkout and I added enough fuel for an endurance of three hours. The examiner had absolutely no problem with this.

I know that with two people of average weight and a bag of less than 10kgs, average temperature at sea level, W&B is not going to be a problem. Anything above that - say a box of wines from L2K I recalc the W&B. I have the graphs on an app on my iphone.

[EDMJ]

I think you will find that most flight school ops dont fit in on the weight and balance data for a 152? and looking at the size of some of the occupants who get in there! not surprised

According to the sheets you are outside of limits if you take off in a 152 with two people and a full tank. That would rule out practically every student and instructor flight.

I fly from an airfield with a 400m long (short?) paved runway at 1,842 ft MSL having a forest at one end. The local flying school has C172's and C152's. I can ensure you that such performance data/calculations is/are taken seriously

[FlyingStone]

Originally Posted by SoCal App

Actually yes, I have all the datum in a small spreadsheet,
I fill in the blanks for front row px, second row px, baggage and fuel and it works it out - with today's date and the tail number,
It create the limits and graphs it.
Print and put in in binder - all ready for the unsuspecting ramp check. Takes all of 30 seconds including the time to print it.

I have the same thing here, I just fill in the data (weights, fuel) and the expected duration of flight and it automatically calculates W&B at takeoff and landing and puts both values into chart with envelope - it took me few hours to create it, but I now need 30 seconds to do W&B for entire flight

The two-seater W&B issue has been discussed many times, they are indeed a little more restrictive than four-seaters, but most of them have no problem with weights over MTOW, given that you don't have a very short strip and/or large obstacles. The most important thing is to stay withing CG limits, even if you are couple of pounds over MTOW.

[TractorBoy]

You don't get much joy at flying clubs this side of the pond with a request to look at the POH - or any other aircraft documents for that matter. It's a case of sign the tech log - don't take it away - fill it in when you get back. Any problem with the a/c tell us and we'll write it on a sticky note for the maint team.

You're not flying from a certain airfield in Essex just south of the M25 by any chance ?

[Old Akro]

In the words of Roy LoPresti: "Speed is not the most important thing....it's the only thing".

[Pace]

I did my PPL in a 152 over 20 years ago and now fly business jets in the upper FLs. Flew one not that long ago and it was still a load of slow fun with bags of character.

We probably loose sight of the low and slow drifting over deserted countryside one early summer morning, seeing the chickens run round the farmers yard the cows casually glancing up as you drift by a few hundred feet above. Avoiding the shot as a farmer let off both barrels in your direction Ahhh Bliss!!! what memories. That was real flying.

The 152 Still remember the aircraft trundling in for full fuel while the next student (16 stone) jumped in with his instructor for the next sortie. Never time for W and B calcs, the little plane never knew what they were anyway.

Pace

[Fuji Abound]

Pace - actually, I agree it is a great aircraft, which has stood the most important test of all, the test of time. There are plenty of skills to learn in a 152 and to rekindle the most basic pleasures of flying. The 152 will seemingly put up with all sorts of abuse and will rarely bite the hand of its master. It is also one of only two aircraft I have managed to fly backwards in.

[A and C]

Disturbing thread!

As an instructor I am much disturbed by this thread, to have people with PPL's who have never seen the POH is a damming condemnation of some parts of the flight training industry, I can just see the trouble that would come from the accident enquirey that found that the (now dead?) student pilot had never set eyes on the POH. My guess is that the CFI & instructor could well end up in jail.

For my part I have a "POH quiz" that I put in front of the student at an early stage of training (always before the first solo). This open book quiz about the aircraft and its systems is intended to get the student looking for the anwers in the POH and so getting to know how to find the data that they will need for future flying. It is a very productive way to spend a rainy afternoon.

[Pace]

A and C

Not wishing to take away from the seriousness of your arguement re W and B which is very important in any aircraft I am sure most who read my posts realise that I am joking about the aircraft and taking affectionate shots at it

Having said that I do hold with seriousness that many flight schools have flown the aircraft without consideration for the W and B. I witnessed that many times on busy weekends in the past.

Pace

[A and C]

Pace

My post was not intended to be a pop at anyone except those who hide the POH from student pilots.

[conflict alert]

Is there any harm in cruising a Cessna 152 at 100 knots apart from burning up a lot of fuel?

no
don't ever exceed VNE and know what your rough (turbulent) airspeed is.

[Pace]

Conflict

no
don't ever exceed VNE

isnt VR and VNE the same in the 152???

I thought THE 152 was next years choice for the Red Bull air racing series ?

Pace

[conflict alert]

cheeky

I thought THE 152 was next years choice for the Red Bull air racing series ?

how painfully boring that would be

[Molesworth 1]

All the stuff in the POH is part of the PPL syllabus but in a generic sense. It's strange that students aren't shown the POH of the aircraft they typically fly so that they can see a practical example.

It seems also that there are different versions of the 152 POH around depending on the year and model. In my experience every instructor has his or own idea how best to fly the Cessna 152. What one instructor recommends another will tell don't do it as it will kill you.

[Molesworth 1]

PPL's who have never seen the POH

Maybe it's because it's an important document that goes with the C of A, is kept in a safe and is too precious to allow out for reading by students with their dirty paws. Bits of this holy grail are photocopied so the student has something to show the examiner on Skills Test day.

Paradoxically it's so essential that it winds up being no use to anyone.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Unfortunately there seems to be a general tendancy to not pay a lot of attention to the POH in the flight training environment. This is unfortunate
because there is a wealth of important info in the amplified procedures section of the normal procedures section. It is also important to note that a sheet of paper with the emergency procedures copied on it is not enough. The emergency procedures section of the POH has an additional narrative for many of the emergencies which can be critical to properly dealing with some in flight emergencies. For that reason when I instruct, every simulated emergency starts with the memory items, followed by the emerg checklist of which the last item on every emergency is the POH page reference. Obviously I expect the student to use his/her judgement as to when it is apropriate to go to the POH given the situation. The hardest part of instructing is getting the student to stop rushing through the checks. There are almost no emergencies that do not give you time to calmly asess the situation and slowly and methodically work through the checks.