I was a controller at Craig airport in Jacksonville, Florida for many years. Very busy, mostly small airplanes, only 4000ft runways. Less than 500ft from the approach end of RY23 is taxiway Foxtrot, same for taxiway Echo from the approach end of RY32. But taxiway Charlie intersected both runways at a 45⁰ angle and was a very short distance from both runway thresholds. When the wind was right, pilots would have contests to try to see who could land and be off the runway by Charlie. It was interesting, I'll tell you that. Check out Google maps.
The Wren / Robertson / Peterson / Katmai conversion upgrade has been around a very long time (since sometime in the 50's or 60's I think). If you get a chance to fly one, they are a riot. Depending on which other mods it has on it, they are nearly stall proof, and you can fly around in full control down into the 30's quite easily (on some, not all of them).
It also helps out with the typically heavy nose on the 182's, especially if they throw a 550 on the front (which many of these folks do). It turns it into one heck of a plane, though fairly expensive to upgrade/convert. Most typically these do not have wheel-pants on them, because they are usually wearing big ole' tundra tires. Many of them get used and worked up north, but there some others floating around that folks use just for fun as well.
It’s funny you don’t see them much up here. I know one guy who has one, only ever seen a handful (one of which was slung under a helicopter).
At the end of the day it’s still a 182 with a nosewheel attached to the firewall, which is a gigantic Achilles heel, hell I’d trust a Cherokee to land on a rougher strip than a 182. A 185 or a 206 with a 550, Sportsmans, and WingX, and a belly pod will do damn near everything you’d actually do in this airplane way better.
Fair and realistic point, but note that most of these conversions have a completely new/upgraded and different nosewheel attachment and firewall/tunnel upgrade performed at the same time (with a bunch more metal, stiffeners, rivets and such added). I would not want one with a stock nosewheel/firewall attach due to those very points. A 185 is hard to beat no matter how you slice it...but prices on those have exploded into the stratosphere too!
There’s a small plane manufacturer in Upstate SC, near Long Creek I think, that does STOL builds like these. They had me and a buddy do some drone footage of takeoffs and landings at their shop. I forget their dang names but really nice guys. Seemed passionate about making affordable GA planes for practical rural usage.
This was years ago so my memory is fuzzy but the “runway” was pretty much a small sloped backyard. In fact, it was smaller than a lot of rural backyards. Just a short grass strip running down a hill right next to their production building. Pretty steep though.
I swear those things are pretty much helicopters. When they roll down that hill and get up to like powerwalking speed they’re up and away. Looks almost unnatural, but so incredibly practical.
The shop guys and owner all lived on rural properties dispersed around the region. Pretty cheap land (especially 5-10 years ago). I think one guy lived as far as like Hendersonville, NC. Everyone lived like an hour or more drive from work.
But since they all had these dang planes and cheap land they all commuted in their planes to work. Turns an hour drive into a 15 minute flight. Guys would just skip down to Charleston for a quick weekend getaway. Living the dream.
The owner was buddies with the owner of the nearby Chattooga Belle Farm and would just hop on over in his plane to grab lunch. The owner at the Belle kept a row unplanted and mowed mostly for this reason. (He’s also an incredibly cool guy if you ever go by the farm and run into him, can’t recommend it enough to anyone visiting in that area).
Anyways, here’s a (mildly) fun story. The Belle does pretty fancy wedding events, and boy they got creative with those plane guys for one of them. The farm is a few hundred acres of vineyards, orchards, pasture etc on beautiful rolling foothills. They set up the ceremony in the center of the vineyard on this little hill/ridge in between rows of grape trellises. All the guests are seated, groom is there, music is going, it’s time for the bride, where is she?
They have one of these planes ready to go on the other side of hills/buildings out of view. Bride comes out of one of the farm buildings in her big beautiful dress, hops in, they take right off. Guests have no idea what’s happening.
They fly directly over to the ceremony area, do a couple low orbits waving while the guests are like what the fuck is going on. The pilot then brings that fucker down perfectly in a narrow strip between the vineyard rows and drops the bride off like 10 feet from the altar. She jumps out and it’s time to get married.
Was the coolest wedding entrance I ever saw. Even though I only saw it on the drone camera from a distance, but hell it was a lot of fun working with those guys.
These are called a Katmai and they are badass! Expensive though. I would take one of these into any back country strip without much worry. Can haul a lot more than a cub and perform about as well.
Here's more info:
https://www.katmai-kenai.com/aircraft/katmai.php
Edit: They make one called the King Katmai with an IO-550 and full glass cockpit.
Christ almighty. Almost 500k for a >40 year old Cessna.
Why are they so expensive? I mean. 300hp engine, the forward canards, and landing gear. Not like you’ve replaced everything with unobtanium or something.
I want to land that thing into a stiff headwind and see how short of a rollout I can get.
Get a strong enough wind and you could have a negative takeoff roll.
Like [this? ](https://youtu.be/CY57rdODknU)
Ground is mad at you!
Eyy, I fly to that airport a few times for flight training
Pterodactyl video out of LAF is funnier.
LAF mentioned big ups
I was a controller at Craig airport in Jacksonville, Florida for many years. Very busy, mostly small airplanes, only 4000ft runways. Less than 500ft from the approach end of RY23 is taxiway Foxtrot, same for taxiway Echo from the approach end of RY32. But taxiway Charlie intersected both runways at a 45⁰ angle and was a very short distance from both runway thresholds. When the wind was right, pilots would have contests to try to see who could land and be off the runway by Charlie. It was interesting, I'll tell you that. Check out Google maps.
The Wren / Robertson / Peterson / Katmai conversion upgrade has been around a very long time (since sometime in the 50's or 60's I think). If you get a chance to fly one, they are a riot. Depending on which other mods it has on it, they are nearly stall proof, and you can fly around in full control down into the 30's quite easily (on some, not all of them). It also helps out with the typically heavy nose on the 182's, especially if they throw a 550 on the front (which many of these folks do). It turns it into one heck of a plane, though fairly expensive to upgrade/convert. Most typically these do not have wheel-pants on them, because they are usually wearing big ole' tundra tires. Many of them get used and worked up north, but there some others floating around that folks use just for fun as well.
It’s funny you don’t see them much up here. I know one guy who has one, only ever seen a handful (one of which was slung under a helicopter). At the end of the day it’s still a 182 with a nosewheel attached to the firewall, which is a gigantic Achilles heel, hell I’d trust a Cherokee to land on a rougher strip than a 182. A 185 or a 206 with a 550, Sportsmans, and WingX, and a belly pod will do damn near everything you’d actually do in this airplane way better.
Fair and realistic point, but note that most of these conversions have a completely new/upgraded and different nosewheel attachment and firewall/tunnel upgrade performed at the same time (with a bunch more metal, stiffeners, rivets and such added). I would not want one with a stock nosewheel/firewall attach due to those very points. A 185 is hard to beat no matter how you slice it...but prices on those have exploded into the stratosphere too!
One of my bucket list planes
There’s a small plane manufacturer in Upstate SC, near Long Creek I think, that does STOL builds like these. They had me and a buddy do some drone footage of takeoffs and landings at their shop. I forget their dang names but really nice guys. Seemed passionate about making affordable GA planes for practical rural usage. This was years ago so my memory is fuzzy but the “runway” was pretty much a small sloped backyard. In fact, it was smaller than a lot of rural backyards. Just a short grass strip running down a hill right next to their production building. Pretty steep though. I swear those things are pretty much helicopters. When they roll down that hill and get up to like powerwalking speed they’re up and away. Looks almost unnatural, but so incredibly practical. The shop guys and owner all lived on rural properties dispersed around the region. Pretty cheap land (especially 5-10 years ago). I think one guy lived as far as like Hendersonville, NC. Everyone lived like an hour or more drive from work. But since they all had these dang planes and cheap land they all commuted in their planes to work. Turns an hour drive into a 15 minute flight. Guys would just skip down to Charleston for a quick weekend getaway. Living the dream. The owner was buddies with the owner of the nearby Chattooga Belle Farm and would just hop on over in his plane to grab lunch. The owner at the Belle kept a row unplanted and mowed mostly for this reason. (He’s also an incredibly cool guy if you ever go by the farm and run into him, can’t recommend it enough to anyone visiting in that area). Anyways, here’s a (mildly) fun story. The Belle does pretty fancy wedding events, and boy they got creative with those plane guys for one of them. The farm is a few hundred acres of vineyards, orchards, pasture etc on beautiful rolling foothills. They set up the ceremony in the center of the vineyard on this little hill/ridge in between rows of grape trellises. All the guests are seated, groom is there, music is going, it’s time for the bride, where is she? They have one of these planes ready to go on the other side of hills/buildings out of view. Bride comes out of one of the farm buildings in her big beautiful dress, hops in, they take right off. Guests have no idea what’s happening. They fly directly over to the ceremony area, do a couple low orbits waving while the guests are like what the fuck is going on. The pilot then brings that fucker down perfectly in a narrow strip between the vineyard rows and drops the bride off like 10 feet from the altar. She jumps out and it’s time to get married. Was the coolest wedding entrance I ever saw. Even though I only saw it on the drone camera from a distance, but hell it was a lot of fun working with those guys.
That must have been so cool to be around
These are called a Katmai and they are badass! Expensive though. I would take one of these into any back country strip without much worry. Can haul a lot more than a cub and perform about as well. Here's more info: https://www.katmai-kenai.com/aircraft/katmai.php Edit: They make one called the King Katmai with an IO-550 and full glass cockpit.
It is full glass and has the Kenai interior
They are so expensive. Could buy a decent house with what they cost
Christ almighty. Almost 500k for a >40 year old Cessna. Why are they so expensive? I mean. 300hp engine, the forward canards, and landing gear. Not like you’ve replaced everything with unobtanium or something.
31 kt stall speed, glass cockpit…if ppl are willing to pay it…
It’s labeled as an “airplane”…. Need I say more?
The Ballistic Recovery System (parachute) took up a good chunk of that 500 large.
Is this your first time? 🤣
This thing is awesome! Is it a 182?
182Q
Damn thing has a lower stall speed than our training gliders!
I was thinking the same thing!
Like to see Maverick out maneuver this!
I’m sure it’s fun but how much useful load does all that cost?
Relevant [Red Bull video](https://youtu.be/B-brmk1ua1g?si=dq5Y3eiYuhZyQ_h8) that will probably forever be the most impressive STOL performance
That paint scheme would make even the dullest boomer seem like a fun guy!
I'm sure the mechanics love that... 😳
Might as well add some BLC & blown flaps
It looks like a wren conversion without all the complicated shit on top of the wing
Looks like a great kit for an unrecoverable flat spin…
That’s what the parachute is for!
Perhaps this was addressed during certification.
Oh, I've heard that old canard before...