I started flight lessons in 1998 in a Piper Archer II. My instructor loved playing with the new avionics, but with its four seats, 2,550-pound maximum gross weight, and 180-horsepower engine, the Archer was a lot of airplane for the then-135-pound me. I was overwhelmed. Then one day, much to my instructor’s chagrin, the only aircraft available for my lesson was a Cessna 152. It was old and pretty beat up, but sitting snugly in the little seat, I took off with my instructor glumly looking at nothing but windshield and sky. We popped right off the ground and I felt everything by the seat of my pants, just like Rod Machado and William K. Kershner had described in their books. This was the trainer for me. Cessna designed the 152 to be a performance improvement over its 150, and the company produced more than 7,500 of the airplanes between 1977 and 1985. Its Lycoming O-235 engine produced more power than the 150, and it is still considered to be a versatile trainer. In 2010 Cessna tried to rekindle the romance of two-seat trainers with the introduction of the Skycatcher in the Light Sport category. Alas, it, too, was discontinued. But you’ll find the 150, 152, and even Skycatchers still in the fleet at many flight schools.
Related Articles
