The Cessna 120-140 Association Forum

Hey Gang wanted to get a few opinions on completing commercial maneuvers and CFI training in a 120 or 140.

With the change to the Commercial FARs you now only need 10 hours Retract time and you can use a none Retract plane to complete your training. My questions is with the stresses that would be put on the plane doing 60 degree steep turns and power-off 180s would it be possible to complete your Commercial and CFI in a 120/140? Would it be smart?

You won't have any issues pertaining to stress on the airframe as long as you fly the airplane in it's normal operating range (i.e. within the green arc on the airspeed indicator). 60 degree banks are not required, but 50 degree banks are (you can look up the requirements in the current FAA ACS for Commercial Pilot under www.faa.gov). 180 power-off approaches to landings are a snap as long as you practice. It's a light airplane, and can float along in ground effect quite well.

You mentioned that you're curious if you could use a 120/140 to complete your Commercial/CFI Certificate. Question,do you also plan to use the airplane for your check rides? Problem you might be faced with is finding a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) to fly with you in the airplane if they aren't tail wheel qualified. An even bigger hurdle may be facing you if you want to use a 120/140 for your CFI check ride. Initial CFI check rides are normally done by an FAA Safety Inspector unless their schedule is so booked that you're assigned to a DPE to accomplish the check ride. Not all FAA personnel these days fly tail wheel airplanes.

I think the real issue would be finding a CFI and a designated examiner light enough to work within the useful load of the airplane. Other than that I think it would work and be very economical.

Thanks for the detailed responses!

Sounds like Comm is do-able if I can find a Tailwheel friendly DPE and CFI.

8241 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 01, 2018 12:12 pm Thanks for the detailed responses!

Sounds like Comm is do-able if I can find a Tailwheel friendly DPE and CFI.

Oh Yeah!

Believe it or not I did the major portion of my initial CFI check ride in a.... Cessna 152. All the air work that included show me how to do a Lazy-8, Approach to Landing Stall, and Short Field Take Offs, etc., were done in a C-152. The short remainder of the check ride which believe or not which was only .3, and that included the taxi out and back in was in a C-177 RG to demonstrate to the examiner that I could teach someone how to operate a complex airplane.

I think that you should be able to find a DPE to give you a commercial check ride in a C-140/120, and you may be one of those in an area where the FAA assigns a DPE to CFI Initial check rides. Keep us posted, and if you have any questions always feel free to ask someone here.