When I asked Tom Johnson, the former owner of our Sweepstakes 172, if he’d like to fly the airplane, he had a question of his own.
Tom Johnson (right) takes a photo of his son, Jeffrey, in front of their former Skyhawk.
“Will I be able to recognize any old parts?”
There wasn’t much for Tom to recognize of the former N739HW. But he had a great time flying N172WN.
Josh Cochran captures Tom Johnson getting acclimated to his former Skyhawk.
Tom brought his son, Jeffrey Johnson, along to check out their airplane. Jeffrey had a photo of himself as a 10-year-old standing in front of 739HW at EAA AirVenture.
Young Jeffrey Johnson with N739HW at EAA AirVenture.
That was one of N379HW’s last trips to Oshkosh. With a growing family, Tom acquired a Cessna 182 and says he flew it to AirVenture in 2004.
With Dave Hirschman in the right seat, Tom put the 172 through its paces. He was especially interested to see how the Micro Aerodynamics vortex generators would affect performance, and was pleased at the 172’s slow-flight and stall performance.
“It truly is an example of keeping older airframes flying by incorporating newer technologies to improve performance, safety, communications, and pilot situational awareness,” Johnson told me later.
We’re happy you like how it turned out, Tom. Thanks again for your wonderful donation.
Learn more about how you could win a Cessna 172 in the AOPA 172 Sweepstakes.
March 24, 2017 at 11:00 am
That is really neat, I love the dark silver grey base coat. I hope the final look turns out well. It would be nice to see a paint scheme that was less trendy without the swoops and zigzag lines everywhere. Maybe a ode to the original paint sceam but not as dated, a classy sweet spot. I’m not sure how people liked the Moony BMW design paint sceam of a few years ago but I thought it hit the mark. It was a design that won’t date itself quickly because it was already classically dated.