Better Than New

With more power and a glass panel, this refurbished and uprated 1970s Cessna offers almost all the advantages of a new aeroplane at a very attractive price

- Keith Wilson

OK, I hear you ask, what’s so new about this aeroplane that Pilot is doing another Cessna 172 flight test? Well, G-LANE is a very different example of what you may find out there in the second-hand or rental Cessna 172 market place.

Many of us will have flown Cessnas or still be flying them. When I learned to fly in the 1970s (yes!) the main training platforms were the two-seat Cessna 150 and four-seat (with certain limitations) Piper Cherokee 140. Many flying clubs and schools also had at least one Cessna 172 on their fleet, available to hire once you had your shiny new Private Pilot's Licence in your sweaty palms, and I certainly aspired to fly one. Other low-wing Cherokee variants were available to rent but−a bit like Marmite−the affinity for high-wing vs low-wing usually polarises pilots.

I continued to rent a C172 until August 1989, when I acquired a 1968 Cessna 172H, powered by the ultra-smooth six-cylinder Rolls-Royce Continental O-300 engine, for the princely sum of £13,500. It performed well and provided me with lots of UK and European touring, as well as being an excellent camera ship for air-toair photography. I kept the aircraft until early 2001, when it was sold to a new owner for almost twice my original purchase price. So yes, I am clearly a fan of the honest and versatile, high-wing Cessna 172.

In spring 2016, an aircraft for sale with one of Pilot magazine’s regular advertisers, Just Plane Trading caught the eye of Mark Hadley. A glance at the photograph revealed what might be on offer so he contacted proprietor David Morris. Following a conversation, Mark arranged a viewing and prebuy engineering survey a few days later, which revealed only a couple of snags: a wire to the tail light, which had been incorrectly routed, and a corroded door hinge pin, both of which were fixed during the inspection.