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A "Fresh Pick" STC for Your Cessna

Now there's a new Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) that will increase the useful load of your Cessna 182P or 182Q by 150 to 160 pounds, and your ramp weight (in most cases) by 160 pounds.

Best of all, this new STC requires no parts, no modifications, and no installation labor costs. One low initial price, and your airplane suddenly gains greater utility, value, and safety benefits.

How did we do this? By investing in a multi-year FAA engineering, flight test, and certification program. We call the STC a Fresh Pick because no similar STC has been introduced for your airplane since it was built some 28 to 36 years ago.

Our FAA Approved STC (SA03608AT) allows:

An increase in useful load of 150 - 160 pounds
A potential increase in in payload of up to 160 pounds
A ramp weight increase to 3110 pounds (up from 2950 or 2960 pounds)
A Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight (MGTOW) of 3100 pounds (up from 2950)
An increase of 260 to 310 nautical miles or more in range *
An increase of 2 to 2.6 hours or more in endurance^*
The widest CG range of any fixed gear Cessna 182 ever built

* These numbers assume that the increased MGTOW is used for fuel only, and will vary with specific fuel consumption and your chosen cruise power settings.

Growth Trends in Cessna 182 Weights

The chart below illustrates why the STC is an important contributor to increasing the usefulness, utility, value, and safety of the Cessna 182P and 182Q airplanes. Note that the line depicted for our STC suggests that the highest ever 182 useful loads available are for the 1972-1975 182P models. However, take this all with a grain of salt; the empty weight reference is the Cessna "standard" for those years, and your airplane may very well be heavier today. All we can promise is an increase in useful load of at least 150 pounds for every 182P and 182Q ever built.

How will you use it?

You have several choices. Most commonly, you'll likely use the STC for the flexibility to carry full fuel in the tanks. This option (which offers about an additional 25 US gallons) comes with the peace of mind that only added range and endurance can provide... especially in the face of unexpected weather or the need to divert to an alternate. In these days of higher fuel prices, this also might let you avoid an extra fuel stop and all the flight inefficiencies and costs that it portends. (Of course, don't get lulled into passing by that fuel stop when it's really needed.) Needless worry and sweat about near empty fuel guages over hostile terrain is something we all want to avoid.

By taking this approach, your true payload will be lower than it could have been (since fuel is not considered "payload") but your useful load and gross weight have both been increased by at least 150 pounds.

Alternatively, you might only partially fill the tanks, really load up the cabin, and use some of the extra 150 pound gross for payload. There is no Zero Fuel Weight limitation. Just remember that the landing weight remains at 2950 pounds, so you'll need to burn off about 25 gallons before landing. What if you must land above 2950? Well, then you just do it. FAA has approved our STC with Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA - see the link above) covering just such a case. Smooth technique is advised here, but your Cessna 182P/Q is built tough and will come through it OK.

Finally, you might want to carry a very minimal fuel load in favor of "jettisonable" payload... a skydiving operation to carry another 150 - 160 pound jumper comes to mind, but there may be other cases as well. The point of it all is that your loading flexibility and your airplane's utility have been markedly improved.

A comparison with the later Cessnas

In 1981, Cessna introduced the 182R model, built until production ended in 1986. Just like our STC does for the 182P and 182Q, Cessna amended their Type Certificate to a 3110 ramp, 3100 MGTOW, and 2950 design landing weight. These numbers remain in place to the present day, even for the later 182S, 182T, and T182T models. Yet, all of the fixed gear 182 airplanes built since 1981 have a narrower CG loading envelope, in fact truncated at the aft limit by 2.5 inches less than the 182P and 182Q airplanes. While we accepted these same limitations for our STC when you operate your airplane at weights above 2950 (it has to do with worst-case stick force requirements), we proposed to FAA that there is no reason why the 182P and 182Q airplanes should not retain their original expanded envelope at weights of 2950 and below. FAA agreed. The result is that incorporating our Fresh Pick STC means that your 1972 to 1980 model Skylane, whether it's the 182P or the 182Q flavor, will have better loading flexibility and a wider CG envelope than any 182R, 182S, 182T or T182T that ever left the Cessna factory.

Is there more gross weight growth left "in the cards" for these airplanes? Probably not, even for the Part 23 certified restart airplanes. The constraint is very likely the required limit testing under worst case unsymmetrical wing loading. So, for now at least, unless Cessna changes the design, the Fresh Pick STC is probably the best that can be done.

It is worth noting that the Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS 3A13) for all the fixed-gear 182 airplanes allows a 30% increase in MGTOW under an FAA issued Special Ferry Flight Authorization (a "Ferry Permit"), but with some very important operational restrictions. These are strong airplanes.

Need to know more?

Click on the links at the top of this page. You'll find a comprehensive "FAQ" (Frequently Asked Questions) that might provide the answer you've been looking for. In the "DOWNLOADS" section you will find a sample flight manual supplement for your airplane (check your serial number carefully... there are ten different ones!) This will give you a good idea about performance changes when operating at weights above 2950 pounds. If your question has still not been answered, click on the "REQUEST INFO" link to E-mail us and we'll return an answer in short order. There's also a link to the history and theory behind the development of our Fresh Pick STC, should you be interested in how this all was accomplished.

We promised the FAA's Aircraft Evaluation Group that we'd make our most current Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA) available on this website for you or your maintenance provider, so you'll find a link to it above. The "LINKS" button will take you to some other information sources and related documentation.

Finally, of course, there's the all-important "PURCHASE" button. Major credit cards and PayPal are welcome! Your complete STC data package, with the required permissions and serialized to your airplane, will usually be E-mailed within 72 hours or less. Your one time cost is US $750, not much more than filling the tanks for a long cross-country trip.

STC delivery options - now available on CD !

For a small additional charge, we can print out all the necessary STC documents at your nearby Fed-EX Office (formerly Kinko's). Fed-Ex Office has offices in the United States and 10 other countries. We will notify you when the package is ready, and you can pick it up locally. If you'd prefer, we can also send you a CD with the entire STC data package via postal services. If you choose either of these options, we will still E-mail duplicate documents to you for your records. It couldn't be easier or more convenient!

Photo Credits:

Upper left banner and rendering below the Fresh Pick label courtesy of John at fstop in the UK

Original Fresh Pick graphic courtesy of Hewlett-Packard

Upper left banner Cessna 182P in flight courtesy of Gary Estes, Estes Aviation

Upper right banner picture of Cessna 182P "Sealane" courtesy of Jim Schwerman, Seaplanes West, Inc.