After two years of giving away new and nearly-new aircraft, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s sweepstakes is back in the refurbishment business, with plans to bring a 1974 Cessna 182 into the 2010s.
“When balancing simplicity, speed, and usefulness, you can’t do much better than a Cessna 182,” said Tom Haines, AOPA’s senior vice president of media, “so our sweepstakes for 2011 is the Crossover Classic 182 Sweepstakes. Our members have told us they really enjoyed reading about restoration and refurbishment projects in the past and seeing the sorts of things they might do to their own aircraft. So we’re going to show them what’s possible with one of the most versatile workhorses of the general aviation fleet.”
Anticipated upgrades include increasing power from the original 230 horsepower engine to a 300 horsepower Teledyne Continental engine through Air Plains Services, installing a Garmin G500 glass cockpit complete with a Cobham/S-TEC System 55X autopilot and flight control system, and giving the aircraft a facelift inside and out with a new interior and a new paint scheme. AOPA also plans to add a Robertson short takeoff and landing (STOL) kit and long range fuel tanks.
“By the time we’re done with it, our Crossover Classic 182 will be every bit as much at home on 2,500 feet of dirt in the high country as it will on 10,000 feet of concrete at O’Hare or Hartsfield,” said AOPA Pilot Editor-At-Large Tom Horne, who will act as project manager for the Crossover Classic 182. “It’s a project that would not be possible without the support of partners throughout the industry who provide us not only with material support, but with expertise and ideas as well.”
The sweepstakes is open to all, although the winner must be 18 years old and must hold at least a student pilot certificate at the time of delivery. Anyone who is a member of AOPA on the last day of July 2011, will automatically be entered in the Crossover Classic Sweepstakes. Additionally, AOPA members who are in the Automatic Annual Renewal program or who recruit new AOPA members will receive additional entries. Complete rules and eligibility requirements as well as alternate methods of entry are available online.
The Crossover Classic 182 will be awarded at the 2011 AOPA Aviation Summit in Hartford, Conn., Sept. 22-24, 2011.
In the meantime, it’s not too late to enter AOPA’s 2010 Fun To Fly Sweepstakes. Anyone who is a member of AOPA on Sept. 30, 2010, is automatically entered. Complete rules for the 2010 Fun To Fly Sweepstakes are available online. The grand prize, a 2009 Remos GX light sport aircraft, will be presented during this year’s AOPA Aviation Summit, at the convention center in Long Beach, Calif., Nov. 11-13, 2010.
