In 1967, I bought my first airplane, a 1947 Cessna 120. Flew the sucker for
a half a thousand hours from San Diego to Lake Tahoe a dozen times, St.
Louis twice, and Boston once...not a lick of problems. Swapped that one for
a 1948 Cessna 170 in 1969 for 1500 hours. Flew that one from San Diego to
Oshkosh half a dozen times, no sweat. When I started teaching, I swapped
that one for a 1964 172 in 1975. Flew that one from San Diego and Grass
Valley from '64 to '98 to Oshkosh every year, up and down the coast a few
dozen times, 3000 hours, but finally had a "character building experience"
that totalled the airplane but not a scratch on me or my passengers. Took
the insurance money from that one and bought a derelict '58 182 that I found
in a farmer's henhouse (literally) down in Fresno for $4500, completely
steamcleaned the chicken **** out of it, completely stripped every wire,
nut, and screw off of it, replaced everything with all new wiring and
hardware, did a "new" used radio stack, had all the instruments overhauled,
upholstered, painted, and still had cash left over in the bank from the 172
insurance payoff. For all intents and purposes, since 1990 it has been a
"new" airplane (except for motor, and we've done a pristine top about 200
hours ago), it's been all over the western USA and Oshkosh more than a dozen
times, with around 1500 hours and only one minor glitch.

Ask anybody that has seen it - Jay, Jack, Bob, Montblack, Dan, Mike, and
all the rest of the Oshkosh Mafia. It isn't a "show" airplane, but it is
right up there with anything the factory has ever put out.

So, no, I have nothing but good to say about older airplanes. After all,
they've been "proven" for half a century and most of the nastys have been
taken care of. Fatigue is a factor, but not as much as you might think.
Clyde Cessna built one hell of a machine back in those days. So did Bill
Piper.

Jim

--
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it."
--Aristotle



Are half century old airplanes still viable machines? It sounds scary
buying something that is almost as old as I am.