Testimonials

July 17, 2007
John Frank, Executive Director
Cessna Pilots Association
3940 Mitchell Road
Santa Maria, CA 93455

Re: Re-rigging Cessna 185E

Dear John,

I thought I would drop you a note and express my thanks to the Cessna Pilots Association.  As a little background, I have owned the same Cessna 185E for twenty seven years.  It had been ground-looped prior to my acquisition, and it had been poorly repaired.  It had a replacement wing that had been rebuilt without a jig; as a consequence it had no washout and flew with a heavy wing.  This required a trim tab on an aileron, flap adjustments, wing root cam adjustments, and rudder adjustments to compensate for all the other adjustments…and on and on.  This aircraft became a study in the consequences of actions and reactions.  Combine all these “corrections” with age and 30 years of annuals, cable end replacements, minor adjustments and cable stretch etc. and you begin to get the picture.  Earlier this year I had West Coast Wings, Nick Bishop, completely rebuild the incorrect wing, which then meant all the years of improper rigging had to be redone. This was not an easy re-rigging project. 

I have a well documented history of the flying performance of this aircraft, not to mention the kinetic sense that one gets from a few thousand hours in the same plane.  The plane now exhibits a great deal of difference in its feel and performance.  I have only a couple of flights in it and intend to properly document the improvements, but as it looks it may have gained about 3 to 5 knots in cruise airspeed.  This is more impressive when one considers that these knots are the last few knots attainable, the most difficult and expensive to achieve.  By this I mean the plane already flies fast due to numerous modifications.  Stock the aircraft flew about 142-144 knots, with wheel pants and other modifications it increased to about 152 knots.  I added a Hartzell three blade propeller as well as a 550 engine and got another 10 knots for about 162-164 cruise.  With the corrections your organization made it now appears to cruise in the neighborhood of 167 to 168 knots.

I am very happy with the efforts of your staff.  Mike Wilson performed the re-rigging and it was a pleasure to work with him.  He is very conscientious, thorough and good at what he does.  His and your organization’s systematic approach to re-rigging is certainly well refined and “the only way to go”.  In addition, all the other members of your staff that I came in contact with seemed most friendly and personable. 

In summary, I would recommend your “re-rigging” program to anyone with an aircraft that has more than a few years or hours of service.  The benefits are easily discerned and well worth the efforts.

Sincerely,
T. E. Lalonde