Flying your AOPA Sweepstakes Cessna 182 to Oshkosh

AOPA Content Producer Niki Britton and I flew the freshly resto-modded Cessna 182 from Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona, to Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Like all great general aviation adventures, it was not without hiccups. But as we both agreed, this made it a more interesting trip, a better story, and a total bonding experience.

The dry heat of Arizona was overwhelming even in the swamp- and Big Ass Fans-cooled hangar, but the forecast looked good for the next morning, and we hoped to depart as early as 7:30 a.m., when the temperature would only be in the 80s or 90s Fahrenheit instead of the 100s. But the next morning arrived, and little thing after little thing kept us on the ground. The headliner was a hassle to get back in; the airport decided to start repaving outside the Flite Instruments hangar early; the weather wasn’t quite as good as forecast; and neither Britton nor I had slept well.

By the time we were ready to taxi out, that gut feeling had arrived—we probably weren’t going to leave that day at all. But we decided that even one two-hour leg would be two hours less that we had to fly the next day. After start-up, we had a briefly stuck mic (a first for me, believe it or not) and a broken window latch. The little things had simply piled up too much, and we taxied back to the ramp. We gave AOPA Pilot Editor at Large Dave Hirschman a ring for a second opinion, but we’d already made our decision. With storms growing to the east near Albuquerque, New Mexico, our planned first fuel stop, we decided to call it for the day.

It was the right call, and the airplane was in perfect shape for the flight the following morning. After so many months of work—AOPA acquired the 182 months before the previous sweepstakes giveaway this February —it felt so satisfying to take off and be on our way to the big show. We were even graced with a rainbow from a distant shower, which felt like good luck.

Other than the Fisk Arrival, I anticipated this first leg to be our most stressful since we’d be flying a new-to-us airplane fresh out of the shop over the highest terrain of the trip. We climbed up to 9,500 feet and obsessively checked the engine instruments, both on high alert at the slightest shudder of turbulence. But the 182 performed admirably, and after a few bumps on the descent we landed at Moriarty Municipal Airport just to the east of Alburquerque. As Hirschman noted to us, it’s all downhill from there.

And for the most part, it was. We ran into our first excited AOPA member, fueled up, and climbed out to the northeast, uneventfully stopping at Garden City Regional Airport in Kansas, and then on to Nebraska City Municipal Airport in Nebraska, where I insisted we take advantage of the grass strip for our final stop of the day. And if I do say so myself, it was a nice right-seat landing. Skylanes really are incredibly capable aircraft.

At Nebraska City (the home of Arbor Day) we got the only rental car on the field and drove the few minutes into town. Happily, the best overnight option was a lovely lodge with a restaurant. By the time we checked in, it was 9 p.m., and all we wanted was a meal, shower, and sleep. We spent less than 10 hours there, but it was an excellent and much-needed break.

Britton and I agreed that with the weather on our side, we needed to leave as early as possible to get to the Fisk Arrival. Nebraska City is only a couple of hours away from Oshkosh and easily done on one tank under normal circumstances, but knowing that we needed full fuel for the arrival just in case, we planned to stop in at Tri-County Regional Airport in Lone Rock, Wisconsin, for one last top-off.

Click on the images below to enlarge and view captions.

Feeling confident and joyful as we approached our last leg, we snapped a few selfies. Six minutes later, the alternator failed. At the time of the failure, we were about 15 miles away from Waterloo Regional Airport in Iowa, and while I flew, Britton texted Layton at Flite Instruments about our problem. When we landed with no issues (with Com 2 off and a couple circuit breakers pulled), the mechanic at Livingston Aviation walked right up to us and said, “I heard you have a broken alternator.”

After a brief lunch stop and some internal panicking about whether we would make it to Oshkosh at all, we learned that it was merely a thrown belt. The mechanic thankfully was able to find a replacement for us, and we were back on our way.

Now it was time for the actual hard part—the Fisk Arrival. While I’d flown into EAA AirVenture before, I’d never flown the Fisk, and neither had Britton. We decided she’d be the pilot monitoring and I’d be the pilot flying. I regularly said “1,800 feet, 90 knots” out loud while Britton called out traffic, and we got in the conga line smoothly. Our timing was lucky—the approach started at Green Lake, and we made it in right before a flight of seven or eight. The controllers asked pilots which runway they preferred—27 or 18—and we heard CNN correspondent Pete Muntean arrive ahead of us. As we approached Ripon, they let us know that they were switching from 18 to 36, and that all landings would be on 27 in the meantime. Knowing our runway before Fisk took one more thing off our plate, and I was so intent on the whole situation that I nearly missed the call to rock your wings. We got a “good rock” and continued along the railroad tracks, the runway in sight, descending in a “good base turn, keep it coming, I have faster traffic behind you,” and a command to land on the green dot. I thought I had it, but I did land slightly (less than 50 feet) beyond it—but tower still said, “Good landing, Cessna.” I will remember that forever.

All in all, the flight clocked in around 13 hours. We had incredible weather and help the whole way.

We hope you get to stop by and see the airplane this week. We took good care of it on the way in, and we can’t wait to give it away to one of you soon!