By Michelle Adserias
Cody Abner grew up around airplanes. His parents had a private airstrip on their property north of Bemidji, Minnesota. Before the advent of video games, Cody and his siblings spent most of their free time outdoors. They would always look to the skies and watch for their friend, Burt. He’d fly over low and rock his wings as the kids ran down the middle of the grass airstrip waving to him. Another friend of his dad’s would also stop at their airstrip from time to time. Cody remembers him owning several planes including a Cessna 180 with floats and a Cessna 150 taildragger with 150 hp on skis.
Traveling to the Oshkosh airshow with his parents was a tradition from the time Cody was four years old — long before it was called AirVenture. “I remember seeing the SR 71, the Concorde and, of course many other planes throughout the years,” Cody said.
Cody’s father is also a pilot. He waxed and washed airplanes at a local airport to earn money toward flying lessons. His father wanted to acquire his PPC because his grandfather was also a pilot. Cody’s great-grandfather would take his dad up in a J3 Cub. While Great Grandpa flew, Dad shot the unwanted coyotes on their farm from the airplane.
In the late 1990’s, Cody’s father bought a 1955 170B, which Cody “absolutely loved.” One particular adventure they had in that aircraft stands out. “We flew that 170, while on skis, out of our 1800-foot grass strip (not on the map) with 50-foot trees on one end and a 30-foot drop to a lake on the other. The best part: it runs east and west while the winds are generally north to south.”
Taking the Baton
Cody began working on his own private pilot certificate when he was just 15 years old at KBJI. His discovery flight was in a Cessna 152, which is also the plane he soloed and earned his wings in when he was 18. He went on to earn his tailwheel endorsement with his instructor, Steve.
“I guess I can thank that 16-year-old girl who just got her driver’s license and ran a stop sign for my pilot certification.” Cody received an insurance settlement for injuries he suffered in the crash. Though it wasn’t a large sum of money, it was enough to cover his PPC and his tailwheel endorsement.
By the time Cody was 30, he was on a mission to buy his own plane. He and his wife, Michelle, live in Texas and wanted to be able to fly their plane back to Bemidji for visits and land in his parents’ backyard. Rising costs made purchasing something affordable a challenge. In 2014, they found an ad for a 1964 172E on the bulletin boards at AirVenture. On their way home, they drove through Milwaukee to have a look. They put money down on the plane and the rest is history.
The 172 had a few shortcomings and Cody soon realized he wanted something a little faster. When he and his friend, Ryan, flew from Dallas/Fort Worth to Bemidji, they faced 30 knot headwinds going both ways. Each trip took 12-14 hours and they didn’t have an auto-pilot. At that point, Cody decided to upsize to a 1966 Cessna 182J. He originally co-owned the aircraft, but his partner has since sold his share back to Cody.
Now that he owns the plane outright, his goal, moving forward, is to reach 100 or more flight hours per year. Cody currently flies VFR only but is working on his IFR training.
While he is the sole pilot, his wife loves to fly with him and help him with anything he might need while in flight. And his friends, Ryan and Sean, don’t object to flying along.
A Few Repairs Become a Complete Overhaul
N9924A was in sound flying condition when Cody purchased it. It had a Garmin 430 and a partial panel upgrade done in the 2000’s. The tan leather interior had been upgraded in the 1990’s but the exterior paint scheme was from 1982. What started as an effort to modernize the plane, snowballed into a complete overhaul.
It began during the 2018 routine annual inspection. The mechanic noticed some of the outboard skins were oil canning. When he removed the left-wing tip, he found some interior damage that was never entered in the logbook, possibly from the wing colliding with something during a taxi. The crumpled leading-edge skin was covered up with an illegally installed STOL kit, which was entered in the logbook. However, the incident was never reported to the FAA. “This is what started me down the rabbit hole of repairs/upgrades. Knowing the aircraft inside and out was a high priority, due to the fact that I am flying with my family.”
Cody is a contractor and home builder in the Fort Worth area. “When I remodel a home, sometimes the clients keep going until their whole house ends up being like new again. I feel like airplanes are no different. The changes were not meant to happen. However, they did.”
When asked what he’s done on the plane, Cody responded, “Let’s see. What have I not done?” Since compressions and oil analysis are strong, he has not seen any reason to upgrade the engine yet. And, he has not done anything with the firewall forward on N9924A. He is in the process of finding a 470U core so he can do the Northpoint Upgrade. He doesn’t need it just yet but wants to plan ahead because of the wait time.
What has he done? A full custom leather interior that includes a fifth seatbelt STC so they could use their Cessna 182 as a family vehicle. During the interior renovation, Cody also replaced the fuel bladders, rubber fuel lines, wiring, antennas, speaker and chrome door handles. He has also installed all new LED lights, new solar-tinted gray glass, a sportsman STOL kit and tips, upgraded air vents, wheel pants, Cleveland brakes and brake lines.
When it came to upgrading the avionics, Cody went with a full glass Dynon panel, an Avidyne 540 and Dynon 2-Axis autopilot system. He wasn’t fond of the 1960’s 6-pack layout and found, even with the previous upgrade, there were “some gremlins within the panel” which needed to be ousted.
Last but not least, N9924A got a new paint job. “All the colors had to match!”
During the whole renovation process, Cody relied on numerous suppliers for parts and services. Gritz Aero at KLBX did the panel upgrade, and several mechanics came to his rescue and allowed him to assist with the work that needed to be done. Even though the Cessna parts he needed were often out of stock, he was able to find them through other sources; Aero Performance, Knots2U, McFarlane, Texas Aero Plastics, and eBay sellers, to name a few.
He did offer a word of warning to those out looking for good deals on parts. There are scammers out there. So be a bit wary and try to buy from reputable sources.
Cody found the most frustrating part of all the upgrades was just getting it done. He sometimes found it difficult to relay his vision to those who could legally do the work, and then rely on their schedules to get the work done.
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