Warbird Information Exchange

Hi all,

I am considering purchasing a Cessna 120 or 140 in the coming year. I have snooped around the sites for the owners, but need to have some straight talk.

How are they like to fly? Are they comforable to fly for long periods? Are they easy enough to maintain? Any appreciable difference between the standard C-85 and the O-200 powered versions?

Thanks in advance!

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Ryan Keough
Stow, MA

There are some modified with an O-235 as well. I've been on long trips in a C-140 (when I was thinner) that had a C-85. They are great little planes with decent performance even in high density altitudes.

Can't answer all of your questions, but I got my tailwheel endorsement in a 120 that was basically upgraded to a 140 standard. It's a nice little airplane to fly, and I would say that for me it was just fine comfort wise, but if you get it too heavily loaded on a hot Texas day, it climbs like, well, it doesn't climb fast at all...

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Ryan: Check around, as someone around there will have one. Make sure that you fit in it before you get set on having one. I've found that I can fit into a lot of different aircraft, but with me in the cockpit, no one else can sit in the other seat. Got invited to go with a friend in his Taylorcraft until we discovered that we couldn't fit in the at the same time. I can suck it up, but there is no way that I can get my sholder width down under 26". Most of those cockpits are 42" and under....

120-140s are a great aircraft. They fly very well and the C-85 engine is very economic to fly with a cruise speed around 105mph. Maintenance is quite simple (read not too expensive) and parts are easy to get.

Flying long distance in them is not too bad either, I flew twice from Montreal to Oshkosh without a problem.

Downside is size of cabin which makes it quite "cosy", specially in winter. Payload is rather limited as well at 1450lbs max. gross weight.

There are many examples for sale at a very fair price these days.

A very nice Vintage airplane with a reasonable entry price...

For all there is to know about them, go to the following web site:

http://www.cessna120-140.org

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Michel C
Thousands of a/c pics at Passion-Aviation

I've got a C-120 with a C-85, it has the same performance figures as a C-150 (O-200 powered), but a lot more fun to fly. The difference between a 120 and 140 is the 140 has flaps with no appreciable difference in performance from a 120. A 140 also has a fancy instrument panel.

I owned a C-140 for a while. Great airplane and relatively easy to fly. Some hidden maintenance items to look for when doing a pre-buy inspection. Grab the tip of the horizontal stab and wiggle it up and down. If it moves out of plane with the rest of the surface even a little bit, stuff is broken inside (fairly common). Also, check the main spar fitting where the wing attaches to the carry-through U-channel. There is a machined aluminum anodized block there that suffers from corrosion.

they are both very nice aircraft to fly - I'd love to own one

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Paul Filmer
skippyscage photography