CESSNA
180
In 1911, an American named Clyde Cessna decided he was going
to quit selling cars and start building airplanes. Cessna didn’t
have much in the way of technical expertise—he only had
a Grade 5 education—but he had lots of nerve. After crashing
his prototype a dozen times, Cessna told onlookers, “I’m
going to fly this thing, then I’m going to set it afire
and never have another thing to do with aeroplanes!”
Cessna finally built a plane that
would stay in the air. It was called The Comet, and he flew
it to a new world speed record of 125 mph. His company, the
Cessna Aircraft Company, based in Wichita, Kansas, soon became
one of America’s major aircraft manufacturers. And in
1953, the Cessna factory produced its first utility bush plane,
the Model 180.
Unlike its predecessors—brawny
Norsemans and pug-nosed Beavers—the Cessna was rakish
and elegant. It was fast and comfortable, and its 230-horsepower
Continental engine developed a reputation for being “bulletproof.”
Mounted on floats, the 180 soon became a popular aircraft for
backwoods tourist outfitters.
Tom Faess owns a Cessna 180. He
grew up in Red Lake, Ontario, and began guiding fishermen at
his parents’ tourist camp when he was nine years old.
Float planes were a common sight in Red Lake, and he was fascinated
by the pilots who flew them. In the 1970s, he earned his pilot’s
licence at the Red Lake flying school and moved to Hay River
in the Northwest Territories, where he bought a Cessna 180 and
started his own fishing camp.
Today, “Tundra Tom”
is one of the best-known pilots and outfitters in the Northwest
Territories. He conducts exclusive, African-style safaris into
the wilds of the Barrens, and his guest list is a who’s
who of famous outdoors types, such as wolf expert David Mech
and the late nature photographer Galen Rowell.
Most northern outfitters use a
permanent lodge as a base of operations, but Faess and his guests
roam the Barrens freely, staying in plush temporary camps pitched
next to high-density populations of caribou, wolves and muskox,
as well as beautiful rivers such as the Thelon, teeming with
trout and grayling.
Safaris of this sort would not
be possible without the easy mobility afforded by float-equipped
airplanes. “The Barren Lands are enormous,” says
Faess, “and there’s no guarantee that the caribou
are going to use the same migration routes they used last year.”
He says he prefers to use the Cessna 180 because it’s
fast, economical and very tough. “I’ve got more
than 9,000 hours flying experience and, in my opinion, the Cessna
180 is the perfect bush utility aircraft.”
Cessna also built a high-powered
version, the Model 185. Standing on a dock, it’s hard
to tell the difference between the old 180 and the new 185.
The tail fin is larger, but the main difference is the engine—a
stronger, 260-horsepower Continental intended to appeal to bush
operators. But the response from bush pilots has been mixed.
“The Model 185 has a fuel-injected engine, which produces
more power but is also more finicky,” Faess explains.
“If those fuel injectors get clogged, your engine can
quit on you, and the extra power means you have to carry more
fuel.”
As far as Faess is concerned,
the 180 is the better airplane, cheaper to operate, more reliable
and able to run on boat gas in a pinch. “They kept trying
to improve on the 180,” he says. “They added bigger
motors, bigger cabins, electric flaps—all this stuff.
But gentlemen, you got it right back in 1953. Don’t fix
it if it isn’t broke.” 
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