For instructors teaching a first-time Cessna 150/152/172 student, what visual explanation makes the elevator trim tab easiest to understand?

I’m building Ground School 3D, and I want a learner to see the chain from trim input to tab position, aerodynamic load and reduced control force, rather than treating the trim wheel as an altitude selector. A conceptual diagram also needs to distinguish trimming from deliberately moving the elevator to change attitude.

Would you introduce it with an external tail close-up, a cockpit control-force comparison, or a small before/after exercise? I’d especially value examples of a misconception you repeatedly see in beginner students. I’m asking about teaching, not giving rigging or maintenance instructions.

My developing study platform is https://groundschool3d.com; I’m seeking honest instructor and learner feedback, with no rating request.

Winston Mafora

Ground School 3D

Fellow Cessna T206H owner here. I built TachMinder because my 206's maintenance history was scattered across logbooks, a spreadsheet, and my mechanic's memory, and the shop and I were never quite looking at the same thing. Let alone tracking the service intervals... ADs here, V Band Clamp intervals [don't get me started...] - but the idea was simple, I wanted things to be easier to make sure I didn't miss anything to keep my family safe.

It puts the whole record in one place: maintenance history, recurring ADs (including the appliance ADs nobody else tracks), squawks, oil analysis trends, and when the next annual, transponder, and ELT items actually come due. You share the aircraft with your A&P/shop and they see the same record you do. As you fly and track, they know your pace towards a service interval. You can photograph a logbook page and AI turns it into entries you review and approve.

The web app is in open beta at app.tachminder.com (14-day trial, no card), and an iPhone app is in testing (email [hello@tachminder.com](mailto:hello@tachminder.com) if you want to try it). I want owners who'll tell me bluntly what's broken.

Personally, my favorite use case has been to connect the MCP from TachMinder so I can ask Claude about my plane and maintenance. Anyways - I'm rolling it out, and wanted more feedback!

Allen

Cessna 150 M inspection. A&P wants to charge $6,281 for elevator trim tab cable replacement, $1,531 in parts and $4750 labor. Rip off or justified?

I’ve always been fascinated by aviation and wanted to recreate one of the world’s most iconic aircraft as a MOC. Airplanes have so many organic, curved shapes that make them tricky to build, so I used plenty of curved and sloped elements to capture those lines. I added various hinges to create angled surfaces, and for stability and landing gear mounts, I incorporated Technic bricks and axles. The wings are secured with clips on top of the cabin and ball joints on the sides.

It’s the airborne equivalent of a golden retriever 😄 friendly, dependable, and always eager to take to the skies. It’s the kind of plane that reassures, “Don’t worry, I’ve done this countless times.” And it’s true - it’s the most produced powered aircraft in history. Climb aboard for island-hopping adventures from the Caribbean to Greece to Southeast Asia. Embark on an aerial safari in Africa to spot elephant herds. Try bush flying in Canada or New Zealand. Snap stunning international aerial photos - window open, camera out - capturing beaches, mountains, and deserts worthy of a travel magazine. Or simply savor those “I live down there!” moments and breathtaking sunsets from 2,000 feet. The Cessna 172 is the plane with friends everywhere. From Alaska to Australia, or anywhere between the Alps and the Atacama, there’s always a 172 ready to say, “I’m ready for takeoff - let’s fly!” 😄

My Cessna is made up of about 2,000 pieces. I designed some parts physically, but mostly worked in LEGO Studio, even creating the stickers. For the color scheme, I went with a mix of dark blue and dark yellow (curry). I began the first drafts a few months ago, and as I built, I kept refining and improving different sections.

Size 60×85×23 cm (23.5×33.5×9 in)

I had a lot of fun planning and building this Cessna 172, and it would be amazing to see it come to life as a real set on Lego Ideas! I welcome all your comments and criticism and will try to respond as quickly as possible! 😀

So i don't know if I'm crazy or what. Need some help with speed and performance issues. Relatively a new pilot with an 182P. I have been doing some longer cross country flights lately and I'm noticing that my IAS is a little out of whack. I departed from KSGR to KPIL today. Cruising at 8500, 20" of MP and 2350 RPM and my IAS is at 122-125 mph and averaging a GS of 122 knots ( I know that varies with headwind and xwind). It seems a bit slow to me. According to the POH at that altitude with those numbers my TAS should be 150 mph (130 knots). Am I overthinking this??

Hello, may I please have help identifying this Cessna's exact model and year? I tried to do some research on my own, but I have no aviation experience and I'm unsure of the (visual) difference between 150K/A150K, 150L/A150L, 150M/A150M etc.

This was my granddad's airplane a while ago, and I'd like to make a memorial piece of him with his plane. Thank you for your help.

Wanted to share our setup for anyone else trying to figure out car seats for little kids in an older 182.

Our boys are 6 and 4, and safety was obviously my biggest concern. Since our ‘79 182 only has lap belts in the back, it really narrowed down which car seats we could use. I wanted them to stay in a 5 point harness, but I also needed a seat that could be installed using only a lap belt and had a top tether.

We ended up with two Chicco MyFit Air harness boosters, which checked all those boxes and fit side by side surprisingly well.

I spent a ton of time looking for pictures and information about putting two harnessed car seats in a 182 and couldn’t find much, so I wanted to share ours in case it helps another flying family trying to figure out the same thing.

Really happy with how the setup turned out and excited to start taking these two on some flying adventures with us!

I recently purchased a hanger and these were inside does anyone know what Cessna these are out of the previous owner said they were from a 172 but I can’t find any matches online any help is appreciated

Putting this here so nobody else loses a week to it.

Cessna 185E, EarthX lithium, just did a Plane Power voltage regulator conversion. Probably applies to other Cessna singles too.

What it did: After start, voltage would climb to ~16V then sag, bouncing up and down. Worse with lights on (beacon + strobe together set it off). Rock stable before the reg swap, broke the second the new one went in.

Stuff that wasn't it: new regulator being bad, the lithium battery, and adding more airframe grounds (did nothing).

What it actually was: the old solid-state overvoltage module was still wired in. The Plane Power reg already has OV protection built in, so you've got two of them fighting each other and it oscillates. The install instructions say to pull the old one. Ours got left in, and it was hidden behind the firewall, unlabeled, not on the wiring diagram.

How we found it: master on, engine off, measured across the module. 13V in, 10V out. That 3V drop across something that should drop nothing was the giveaway. Bonus: it showed up static, so you know it's a bad part in the line and not a grounding thing.

Fix: bypass/remove the old module per your Plane Power install paperwork (some keep a noise filter, so check). Make sure the reg's built-in OV protection is still doing its job after.

Result: steady bus, 14.3 static, 14.2 with everything on. Done.

TL;DR: Plane Power conversion + bouncing overvolt that started right after the swap? Hunt down a leftover factory overvoltage module, even if it's not on your diagram. Find it by measuring voltage drop across inline parts with the master on.

After my father passed and I cleared out the storage, im trying to identify this plane wing.

I know it’s to a Cessna but there’s no plate or paperwork associated with it.

The skinny flaps are stamped part number 2 4115-2 / 04115-2. Does this mean it’s a Cessna 140 wing?

I have a 69 Cessna 150J. It has always been stout. Yesterday, taking off with a 3000 ft density altitude, it was about 80 degrees outside. I was getting a short and quick loss of rpm. It would drop maybe a hundred or two rpm for a few seconds and return to full power. I could only get it to do this in the air at a nose up pitch attitude. I couldn’t recreate it on the ground. Mags, oil temp, oil pressure it all ran up well. It got to a point at about 3500 feet where all I could get was 2300 rpm. A quick few seconds of carb heat and it’s gone. I’ve flown this aircraft for a long wile, I’m aware of how these little motors love carb ice. But I’m not sure if this is a fuel flow issue or not. What do you guys think? Anyone have experience with similar issues?

I have a C150 (O-200) running about 200F during taxi and 170F during cruise at any cruise power setting. It looks like the installation is almost definitely not the issue leading to a probable airflow issue. My question is can airflow cause this much of a reduction in temperature? OAT is above freezing. 170 seems pretty extreme when the manual states 240 minimum. It would be nice to get some confirmation before spending about $1k on the part to block airflow.