Over the past year, we’ve brought a bare-bones, bare-aluminum 1958 Cessna 182 into the modern age with a mid-century character resto-mod. And now, the AOPA Sweepstakes restoration is nearing its final stages.
While many rang in the New Year with their loved ones, champagne in hand and feet firmly planted on the ground, AOPA Editor at Large Dave Hirschman and I ferried the AOPA Sweepstakes 1958 Cessna 182 Skylane across the country, from San Martin, California, to Frederick, Maryland.
The Cessna 182 is a great platform straight out of the factory. It does everything it was built to do very well, and most aircraft enthusiasts agree that 182s are the perfect cross-country flier and workhorse.
One of the most fun parts of the AOPA Sweepstakes project is flying the airplane around, showing it off, and showing you, future winner, what it can do.
After making the 1,523-mile trek from Arizona to Wisconsin to make its EAA AirVenture debut, the AOPA Sweepstakes Cessna 182 made the long flight back to California and settled comfortably into a T-hangar at the San Martin Airport (E16).
They say it’s what’s inside that counts, and that absolutely rings true for the AOPA Sweeps Cessna 182. Over the past several months the 182 has undergone a complete interior restoration, including a brand-new, redesigned all-Garmin avionics panel.
As joint managers of the 2024–25 AOPA Sweepstakes project, Niki Britton and Alicia Herron have different strengths that make them a perfect team. Britton has expertise from owning her family Cessna 182 and is the primary manager of the restoration. As a CFII with 1,800 hours and a fair amount of ferrying, Herron uses her unique flying experiences in this project. Ferrying the Sweeps 182 from its Arizona hangar to EAA AirVenture, Herron was in the right seat for the trip and Britton in the left. Here are their stories.
After receiving its fresh new vintage-inspired paint scheme, AOPA’s Sweepstakes Cessna 182 made its public debut at the Buckeye Air Fair in Arizona. There, AOPA members and event attendees swarmed the 182 to get an up-close-and-personal view of “their new airplane.”
With new paint, interior, avionics, and a fresh annual complete, the AOPA Sweepstakes Cessna 182 is finally making its big public debut at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin. But first, we had to get it there.
They say it's what's inside that counts, and that absolutely rings true for the AOPA Sweepstakes Cessna 182. Over the last several months it has undergone a complete interior restoration, including a brand-new, redesigned all-Garmin avionics panel.
Committing to a new paint scheme for your aircraft can come with a lot of nerves and questions. Will this look as good on my airplane as it does in my mind? Have I picked the right colors? Thankfully, choosing the new paint scheme for the AOPA Sweepstakes Cessna 182 was made easy as we chose to emulate the paint scheme from the aircraft on the cover of the very first AOPA Pilot magazine from 1958. Done! Easy! Let’s make it happen! But not so fast; choosing the livery is just the first step before sending the aircraft off to Gus Haussler at Master Aircraft Services in Arizona.
Most AOPA sweepstakes winners end up selling their prizes, though not all. Here are two such exceptions—significant to me because I managed their restoration and upgrades.
Regular followers of AOPA Sweepstakes restorations may have noticed that we are doing things a little out of order from our typical restoration timeline.
When it came time to choose what the next AOPA sweepstakes aircraft would be, there was no question that we wanted to select a noteworthy airplane to commemorate AOPA’s remarkable and storied 85-year history.