New member - hello! (Hawk XP II amphibian)

bnesheim

After several years sharing an aircraft in the Plymouth Flying Club I took the plunge this summer

and became a Cessna owner myself. Here is my 1979 R172K on a mooring on LIttle Squam Lake. Loving it so far, although I do have one cylinder that tends to run hot (#3). Love to hear any advice on easy ways to loose a few pounds and increase my useful load (currently about 600lbs on the Wipare 2350A's)

MikeJJ

Hi there bnesheim! That is one good looking amphibian! Congratulations on your purchase! Wishing you many years of flying fun.

Regards,

Mike

planewrench

Bn, Good looking combination I'd have to check but if you add VG's do you get a small weight increase?

bnesheim

Thanks. While VGs reduce stall speed a bit I've never read that they can increase the GW the airframe can carry. And I already have a Horton STOL kit anyway. Right now my priority is to ditch the inop Cessna 300A Navomatic autopilot and the Cessna 300 ADF, and perhaps upgrade to electronic AI and DG so I can ditch the vacuum system. That may let me carry a couple of more gallons :-),

planewrench

Yeah without looking I couldn't remember if VG's would be any benefit but you've already got the stol perfect.

Swapping out the radios is probably the best way to go at this point I keep my ADF like to listen to ball games lol. Carl