Bill Cox, Author at Cessna Owner Organization

Cessna Citation 500

Posted by Bill Cox | Featured Plane, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

By today’s standards, the first Cessna Citation (originally named the Fanjet 500 and later rebranded as the Citation 1 and finally the Citation 500) was perhaps the ultimate entry-level business jet. In 1972, it was one of the first corporate jets to be authorized for single pilot operation and the first in what was to become the world’s most popular line of business jets. Cessna’s 500 series Citations brought on-demand jet travel to folks who otherwise would have been relegated to the airline’s timeline.

Lord of the Bushbirds

Posted by Bill Cox | Become a Better Pilot, Featured Plane, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

Owners seem to consider the Cessna 180 Skywagon the quint¬essential Cessna and often wouldn’t even consider trading for any other airplane especially (horror of horrors) one that mounts the third wheel under the nose. Fact is, by any measure, the 180 truly is one of the most talented Cessnas ever built.

Cessna 140: A Cessna Built for Two, Low-and-slow Cruiser

Posted by Bill Cox | Become a Better Pilot, Featured Plane, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

One of the consistent positive reviews always goes to the Cessna 140. Like so many Cessnas that followed it, the diminutive 140 is almost universally regarded as one of the best airplanes of its type and vintage. The 140 wins rave reviews not because it does any one thing better than any other model but because it does everything well. In short, its among the best at being average or better.

Beware the Deadly Vmc: Preparing for a single engine loss in a twin

Posted by Bill Cox | Become a Better Pilot, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

The hard reality of twin-engine accidents is that the vast majority are a function of loss of...

20 Things to Consider About Night Flying

Posted by Bill Cox | Become a Better Pilot, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

Night flying can be profitable. Back in the day when I was young and stupid, long before I...

NEVER Run It Dry

Posted by Bill Cox | Become a Better Pilot, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

Keeping track of the time/speed/distance equation is only part of fuel management. It was the Christmas holiday, and I was on my way back from the Bahamas to Venice, Florida. Joe Ponte, public relations director of Piper, had...

Fly Cheap! (or at least cheaper) – 3 Tricks to Trim Fuel Costs

Posted by Bill Cox | Become a Better Pilot, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

I have a friend who owns a 36 Bonanza, and though his airplane has always been a dozen or so knots faster than mine, he’s consistently envied my bird’s lower fuel burn. At max cruise settings, Bob’s A36 will truck along at a...

Cessna 210: High Wing Cruiser

Posted by Bill Cox | Featured Plane

Cessna’s top-of-the-line high wing cruiser, now out of production since 1986, still merits a second look. My friends, the Cabots, formerly of Princeton, Massachusetts, have had a predilection for 210s since I met them in the...

How to Fly an Airplane: Rod Machado’s new “How-To” manual hits all the right buttons

Posted by Bill Cox | Become a Better Pilot, Lessons From The Logbook - Bill Cox

When I was learning to fly back in the 1960s, Wolfgang Langewiesche’s seminal book, Stick & Rudder, and William Kershner’s series of aviation training manuals were the standards by which other systems were measured. And they...

177RG Cardinal: Cessna’s “Airplane of the ‘70s”

Posted by Bill Cox | Featured Plane

Living proof that if it looks good, it’ll fly well! There are a few airplanes that are nothing less than beautiful in flight. Never mind the paint job; any airplane can benefit from an artistically designed paint scheme....

414 Chancellor

Posted by Bill Cox | Featured Plane

Make Way for the Chancellor! It may be a little hard to believe today, but there was a time when corporate piston twins were all the rage. In the early ‘80s, Piper, Cessna, Beech Commander, and Aerostar were producing a dozen...

Cessna Hawk XP: A Skyhawk with Enthusiasm!

Posted by Bill Cox | Featured Plane

What happens when you transplant 195 hp onto the nose of a Skyhawk? When the world’s largest manufacturer of general aviation airplanes decided to bring out a new model back in 1976, you can bet they’d researched the market and...

A Different Cessna 150

Posted by Bill Cox | Featured Plane

Never mind the realities of aircraft production and a fickle marketplace; wouldn’t it have been nice if Cessna had built some of these? It doesn’t sound that different sitting on the ramp. The engine starts pretty much the same,...

Cessna 175: Geared For Performance

Posted by Bill Cox | Featured Plane

One of the few Cessnas with a geared engine, the 175 may have been ahead of its time – or maybe not. I almost expected the gauge to jump out of the panel and land in my lap. Too many years of watching tachometers redlined at...