The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Obviously, the DOG is the only one with any sense.


At least HE knows to lay down before he gets hurt!

Looks great, Tony! Can you send your Dad up to Longmont to help me?

Thanks guys!

George, you're right, the dog is the only one who has a clue. That lab has more flying time than most of the FO's that would show up at my last job.

Dave, come down and visit us one day!

Did it always have dual landing lights??

54170b wrote:Did it always have dual landing lights??

Nope, I added those.

Dual landing lights --- Good mod, and not too hard to do. Judicial removal of the leading edge piece provides a perfect form for making the plexiglas lens in your kitchen oven.

I live on a ranch out west of Austin in the "Texas Hill Country" and it's a "black hole" out here at night.
I have solar garden lights for runway lighting, with reflectors, mounted on top of traffic cones.
They're just fine for me, but taxying around from the lighted runway, down my grass runway, then down the 3-acre "taxyway" to my hangar is a challenge on dark and rainy nights, especialy turning to the right, where Cessna had no taxi-lighting on that wing.

The FOURTH BEST mod performed on my airplane was the dual, landing and taxi lighting (excellently completed by "wingnut" I might add.)
Anyone considering such a mod might find useful the method I used to power them up.

I didn't want to install a second switch. FInding a location on the panel, and then placarding it, etc etc did not appeal to me. So in order to keep things at least LOOKING original, here's my solution: I used the same switch but used it's "taxi" position to activate (supply a grounding circuit) to a master-switch solenoid such as on the battery box. It in-turn sends power to the dual taxi lamps.
The original cockpit LANDing light switch position does the same with a second solenoid to power the landing lamps.
The original fuse/c.b. protecgts the landing circuit, and a new c.b was installed to protect the taxi circuit.
Here's my drawings. (Del had used them with his DER to develop the approval basis.)
Note: "TDB" means "to be determined". I used 4461 lamps which are fresnel-lens (fog lens) 60-watt PAR 36 lamps. I find them excellent for general taxying around fantastic for recognition lights, and a lesser amperage draw than the original two original 100-watt 4509 land lamps for that purpose.
This resulting in NO CHANGE in appearance to my instrument panel, and NO CHANGE in operation of the systems. Any pilot who gets in it in the future will find no procedural change.

gahorn wrote: The FOURTH BEST mod performed on my airplane was the dual, landing and taxi lighting (excellently completed by "wingnut" I might add.)

OK so, what were the first THREE best mods?

bagarre wrote:

gahorn wrote: The FOURTH BEST mod performed on my airplane was the dual, landing and taxi lighting (excellently completed by "wingnut" I might add.)

OK so, what were the first THREE best mods?

Welll... number THREE was probably the baggage door.


And ...number TWO, I'd probably count as the Second Artificial Horizon placed (of all places!) actually in FRONT of the PILOT!


And........(drum rolllllllllll).....THE NUMBER ONE MODIFICATION........

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.....painting it RED!

Best watch out landings on a dark & rainey night

Nice touch.
Trying to convince my wife that we 'need' a baggage door.
But we're quite happy with the Blue

gahorn wrote:And........(drum rolllllllllll).....THE NUMBER ONE MODIFICATION........

.....painting it RED!

SOOOoooo painting your airplane red was a MODIFICATION. Which means your plane actually has a BLUE heart? Blue being a primary color in FAST GREEN.

George, that would be a good mod that could also be done on a 170A model as well. Most people don't realize that the piano key switches are actually 3 position switches with half of their function disabled with a "Stop clip" that only allows the switch to be operated in one direction. By removing the stop clip you can then move the piano key up as well using this as a second function of the switch.

Bruce Fenstermacher wrote:

gahorn wrote:And........(drum rolllllllllll).....THE NUMBER ONE MODIFICATION........

.....painting it RED!

SOOOoooo painting your airplane red was a MODIFICATION. Which means your plane actually has a BLUE heart? Blue being a primary color in FAST GREEN.

I don't really have any information on what color it left the factory. I probably could research that via the dataplate but haven't. It was painted red after a 16 year restoration subsequent to being imported from El Salvador in different colors/scheme than appropriate for a 170. Since it was "re-patriated" It was felt it deserved a good RED-blooded American scheme.

FredMa wrote:George, that would be a good mod that could also be done on a 170A model as well. Most people don't realize that the piano key switches are actually 3 position switches with half of their function disabled with a "Stop clip" that only allows the switch to be operated in one direction. By removing the stop clip you can then move the piano key up as well using this as a second function of the switch.

That is correct! In such case, power could be routed directly from that switch (provided one hasn't a problem with increasing the load-demands on the cockpit electrical-buss. Another advantage of the solenoid system is that the increased currents remain outside the cockpit. The amperage/capacity of the original "piano" toggle-switch should also be taken into consideration. Most are only 20-30A, and the dual light system can exceed that.)

The A model piano key set up originally used the AGS fuse holders which cannot handle 30amps or more anyway. That is why the alternator mod requires a circuit breaker instead of a fuse holder. Not sure what switch the B model uses for the landing light but would not be surprised if it were the same switch on the A model piano key switches. I just wanted to mention the possible additional switch function in case someone wanted to utilize it in the future.