George Page's Custom Cessna 182

I've known George Page for over six years now.  In years past, George would fly his Cessna 182 over from the California valley area in order for us to complete his annual inspection.  George never cuts corners and this is reflected by looking at his nice Cessna 182. George flew to Santa Maria recently for a local shop to complete his annual inspection.  Whenever time permits, George likes to help with the annual inspection by pulling panels and dong whatever he can.  Even though he probably doesn't save a lot of dollars; he does learn a lot about his flying machine.  

For years we've added subtle changes to his avionics.  A radio here, a clock there but George dug up the bucks for the big installation.  Finally the day arrived, George wanted custom panels, a coveted Garmin GNS 430 with the proper indicator, a PS-Engineering audio panel and a S-Tec System 30 autopilot system. Of course the King KX-155 and ADF are a nice touch to his custom installation. Avionics West took the task and rewired the complete avionics stack along with all the goodies George dreamed about. 

George notified me just after the installation was complete that he couldn't pick up the aircraft for awhile and would I be so kind to fly it around to keep the engine from rusting up.  Being the honorable person I am, accepted George's request to fly his aircraft for a month, free including the fuel. Unfortunately (for me), the day came that I had to deliver this custom 182 to George's home field.  See, this was a sad day for me, George had already paid the avionics bill  and now my free flying was coming to an end.   George flew me home which gave me the opportunity to check him out on all of his new equipment.  As I expected, he had no trouble learning the ultra-modern GNS 430 or the System 30 autopilot. 

Let me say a word about age. George is well past the "legal" age of retirement but I've never flown with a better 182 pilot.  He knows his machine and keeps current; I'd fly with him anywhere.  Few if any Cessna 182's are as nice as George's machine and his custom instrument panel only added to the looks and value of his machine.