The Only Plane at the Lillooet Airport...A 1956 Cessna 172

By Mike Pearson
 On our late summer road trip to Lillooet BC in search of the perfect "pick your own" tomatoes...we thought that the local airport would have an interesting treasure or two. Turns out we were wrong on that one, kind of. There was nothing, but this one lonely plane, but it was definitely a treasure.

Not a soul to be seen. An empty ramshackle hangar with the bones of an ultralight plane...and this good looking ( in need of TLC ) old timer. My road trip partner is a pilot, he's thinking that this is a great project.




Odd little dents in the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer

Aftermarket wing tips and fences

Always an eye for detail on airplanes, Brian guessed that it was about a 1955 model...even without Wikipedia or an IPhone....just good old fashioned knowledge filed away for future use. When he researched the tail numbers, it turns out that the owner is a guy that he flew with in Pemberton on another adventure, some years ago. The plane does not have a current airworthiness certificate.

External venturi for a vacuum source

Modified and newish sheet-metal on the nose

Aftermarket wing-tips




All the tires have sun checking


Brian Fitzpatrick is building his own plane at home, and thinks this would be a good addition to the collection.

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