68 cardinal

[RTH]

I currently own a 1968 Cardinal and use it to teach my kids to fly and do pipeline patrol with it. My plane left the factory with a 150 horse but was immediately charged to 180 horse lycoming and fixed pitch prop. It’s a great plane. My kids and I love it.

 

[Magman]

That is a great aircraft. I would rather have the fixed pitch than the constant

speed. I hope you don’t have the “&#@?: dual mag !

Cessna made very few A models with 180 / fixed pitch.

 

[RTH]

It has separate mags. Do you work on mags, magman?

 

[Magman]

Dual as in 2 separate is good.

I hate “ D” mags.

I would do some mags but phasing out.

The plan is to focus on Inspections.

That means making work for other people!

Aircraft Magneto Service your way does a great job for very good prices.

Excellent website too!

 

[Thad]

That is really neat that you can teach your kids to fly. Do you have to be a Certified Flight Instructor to be able to do that?

And what type of pipelines to you inspect from the air? Petroleum?

 

[Magman]

It depends on your wishes for outcomes.

I’m not a CFI but have taught many people basic flying skills.

My g-son would likely never get a Medical but he is now

a “Qualified Emergency Pilot”. Just knowing you can do things

is often a reward by itself.

 

[RTH]

I’m a CFI and got the rating so I could teach my kids to fly. We visually inspect petroleum pipelines near Williston North Dakota. We are looking for leaks but mostly take pictures of other excavation that could interfere with the underground pipeline. It pays for the plane and is fun on the nice days. We won’t talk about the bad days.

 

[Angie]

Hi RTH, your set up for paying for the flying sounds like a very good set up. And it's so great that you became a CFI so you could teach your grandkids.

How old are they now, and do they have their pilot's license yet?

 

[RTH]

None of my kids has there license yet, but 2 of them should have. They just seem to have other priorities in life. My 21 year old just needs to take the written and she would be ready for her check ride. Just to busy to study.

The pipeline job just fell in my lap, and is a nice thing for me.

 

[Thad]

Having a job that fell into your lap is great. About how close to the wires do you have fly?

 

[RTH]

We don’t fly that low 600 to 1000 agl. We take pictures with a telephoto lens of anything we need to report on. We are high enough to fly above the multitude of cell towers. There are a few towers that are higher than we fly so have to look out for those. Sometimes the clouds force us to fly lower also.