The Technical Aspects You Should Know About The Cessna 152

If you love flying planes so much, people would expect you to know enough about the technical specifications of the units that you use. Unlike driving an ordinary automobile, it is simply unthinkable for a pilot not to know anything about such aspects. You should know that flying planes is far more dangerous compared to driving a car on a highway. This is the reason why a pilot is always expected to make a thorough check out of the plane before they start taxiing and preparing for takeoff. This routine helps a lot in reducing the possibilities of accidents while in flight or when taking off or landing.

Of course, if you do not know the basic technical descriptions of the plane, you would never learn about the correct ways of doing the inspection routine. If your plane is a Cessna 152 though, you can be sure that the inspection would be a lot easier. The reason is that it is probably one of the least complicated aircrafts around. It does not have too many mechanisms that are difficult to understand by anyone who does not an education in avionics or aircraft engineering. Nevertheless, this should not excuse you from learning more about the basics of the plane’s technical descriptions.

One of the first things that you should learn about is that the 152 has a Lycoming engine with a 4-cylinder system. This engine can produce 110 brake horsepower at sea level. This capability of the engine would, however, change as the plane climbs higher to levels wherein the air is already thinner.
Apparently, the Lycoming engine shares some similarities to the automobile engine. In fact, this can actually be fed with plain car gasoline. The 152 has two fuel tank types, depending on the distances to be flown by the plane. For long range travels, the 37.5-gallon tank would be used. On the other hand, for short distances, it is the 24.5-gallon tank that would be employed.

An empty 152 would weigh only about 1100 lbs. However, when the avionics are installed inside the cockpit, the weight could increase to 1350 lbs. You should be good at calculating the total weight of the plane once it is loaded with fuel and passengers. Unlike cars, you have to be careful not to overload as this could be the cause of accidents. You should make sure that total load of the fuel, the passengers, and the luggage if any, should not exceed 520 lbs or 230 kg. Remember also that the more load you put in, the more necessary it becomes to lessen the fuel the in your tanks. This means that you when you carry more, you would also have to compromise the distance to be travelled.

By: A. James David

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James David teaches people how to buy single engine airplanes & has a passion for the Cessna 152