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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 1981)
Section SANDY, OREGON THURSDAY. AUGUST 20, 1981 The Sirfndy Post Area News People Home & Garden Features Organization’s most original 170 locally owned Of the 66 Cessna 170s at the International Cessna 170 Association's annual meeting, Sandy resident Dennis Torgerson's was judged the most original. Torgerson, an insurance adjuster specializing in motorcycles who lives across the street from Rich's A irport on Oral Hull Road, was also appointed Oregon's representative at the association's meeting He's been in the organization about five years, and joined a year before he even bought a Cessna 170 He learned to fly in a Cessna 140 tail-dragger, and so his progression to the 170 tail-dragger, a four-seat fam ily plane, was natural A tail dragger, naturally enough, is a plane with a landing wheel on the ta il end of the plane, which is c a ll ed a th ird wheel Although Cessna is s till making tail- draggers, a 180 and a 185. most of the planes they make have what is called a tricycle landing gear Although Torgerson admits that landing a ta il dragger can be tric k y in a gusty cross w md. he said the plane has other features that make up for that deficien cy It's got a very wide landing gear, he said, and ailerons with "a lot of force.” “ I t ’s a very safe airp la n e ,” Torgerson said “ They’ve never had one come apart in the a ir struc tu ra lly There are very few Al)s, that would be airw or thyness directives, against these airplanes after manufacture The AI)s that have come out against the 170s are only minor in nature "The a ircra ft is one of the very few ever built that just required no further changes after m anufacture.” Torgerson said that the members of the international association really likeci Rich's A irport “ The general consensus was that they'd never seen an airport just like this one before " I f you look around, it ’s all grass, and you’ve got these metal buildings It's circa 1035 You just don't see airports like this anym ore." he said Following the landing contest and lunch at Rich's, the association had a flowerboinb dropping contest, which Torgerson won A fter a flight to Mount St Helens they had a banquet at The Thunderbird, which was “ a big success “ These people, they really love this organization It's amazing to me that they'll travel as fa r as they do just to go to an annual convention,” Torgerson added It might amaze some people the trouble Torgerson has gone through to keep his plane "o rig in a l " "There isn't a paint-line on that plane o ff more than a thirty-second of an inch from the original paint scheme, he said "When I got the aircra ft it was in the original paint scheme and I made sure it went back ex actly to what it w as." Torgerson has good reason to take care of the plane It s "probably in the last KM) serial numbers ever built " It's now an antique. The FA A goes back to the date of type certification and this p a rticu la r a ircra ft was type-ceritificated Sept. 15, 1950 So, even though i t ’s a '56 model, it 's considered to be over 30 years old, so it ’s an antique.” Torgerson said that 170s are a good buy His plane, he said, sold for $8,500 new, and is now worth about $21.(MM) The cost of a new Cessna 172, he said, would be in the $35,000 40,000 range "Keep in mind that 172s are all going down in value and 170s are all going up in value," he added. Like John Benham, president of the organization, Torgerson considers the 170 a classic. And, he says i t ’s economical "T h is a ircra ft w ill haul four people and baggage at about 18 miles per gallon at best, at about 16 miles per gallon at worst "W ith today's fuel costs, and the cost of new a ircra ft, this airplane is very a ttra ctive .” Torgerson raced motorcycles for Husqvarna bet ween 1968 and 1971, and raced for about five years before joining Husqvarna. Although his wife used to go to cross country "desert” races w ith him, he said that he'd flown for about three years before she’d fly with him. lie 's now logged over 1 .(MX) hours without incident. A resident in the comm unity for about six years, he said that he plans to be adjusting airplane wrecks as well as motorcycle mishaps His wife, Deme, works at W illiam s T hriftw ay, as does his son, Chris. 17. His other son, Dennis, 19. has just taken a job in California Others in the area that belong to the 170 Association include Len Kauffman of Oswego and Ted Dusner of Troutdale. Stories and photos Dennis Torgerson by Scott Newton International Cessna club makes stop in Sandy John Benham calls the Cessna 170 the working m an’s airplane. A self-described "common laborer at Kelly F ield” in San Antonio, Benham is president of the International Cessna 170 Association He also founded the club, but wouldn't accept an office in the organization until two years ago. He's always felt "th e 170 was a classic airplane, a fam ily airplane.” Knowing that there must be others who felt the same way, he and his wife wrote some a r ticles, requesting other Cessna 170 enthusiasts w rite them The Cessna 170 is “a classic airplane, a fam ily airplane. ” He heard from 1.35 people, which prompted him to make up "a little booklet," which he sent out to the peo pie he'd heard from He requested $1, and received $133 ail together, which more than covered the cost of the booklet He then contacted Cessna, of Wichita. Kansas, and received permission to use their facilities for a meeting That was in 1969, and at that meeting the association was formed More than 2,(MM) membership cards have been issued, although the club has about 1,100 active members Benham was at Rich's A irport in Sandy Friday, where the club had a landing contest and lunch The international association was holding its annual meeting in Portland last week There were 160 persons and 66 a ircra ft registered At Sandy, 45 a irc ra ft and about 135 people participated in the activities Besides the activities at Rich's A irport, the group also dropp«*d flowerbombs at McKinnon's A irport at Roslyn I^ake and viewed Mount St Helens from the air. Persons from all over the United States, and Canada. Australia. New Zealand and Mexico, belong to the In ternational Cessna 170 Association They’ve held their yearly meetings in places like Seattle. Davenport, New York, Milwaukee, Dallas, Colorado Springs and Ed monton, Alberta Cessna produced the 170 from 1948 through 1956 I t ’s a four seat plane that weighs in at 1,300 pounds ie m |) ty ), and can ca rry payload of about 1,000 pounds, or four 17Opound passengers. 100 pounds of luggage and 240 pounds of fuel Talking about the many nicely painted airplanes prompted Benham to say, "Y ou couldn't imagine what the airplanes looked like in 1969 compared to the airplanes here today.” When asked if the air traffic controllers strike had been a topic of discussion, he said, "No It would sur prise you, no more interest than we have in the air con trollers strike ’’ He said that small aircraft pilots usually don't talk to air traffic controllers unless they climb above 10,000 feet There is, however, an air traffic controller in the association Lunch at Rich's Airport " I don't think we should get into that because he's kind of bitter," Benham said «
