Ramp Spotting : Cessna 188 AGWagon

[@rescue270]

Here let me tell you about this one. I've kept a number Cessna agplanes flying for some years. Not too many 230 AGwagons left anymore. I maintain two that have been repurposed as glider tugs for a club near Houston, TX. Only four 230 AGwagons appear on the register in Texas. Most ag operators went with the more powerful 300 AGwagon, 300 AGtruck, or turbocharged AGhusky. The 230 AGwagon was discontinued for awhile, then brought back as the 230 AGpickup. AGpickups are rare. The AGtruck and AGhusky are basically the same fuselage but wider forward section with a larger hopper and correspondingly shorter wing lift struts. 230 AGwagons had a different airfoil section to the wings. The empennage of all of the 188 Series was similar to the 180/185/early 182 except the 188s used a fixed horizontal stabilizer and a trim tab rather than no tab and pivoting stabilizer or "stabilator" for pitch trim. The wing is very similar to 180/185/182 but internally the cable routing and structure is notably different. This one here is probably undergoing ownership change, possibly to be repurposed as a towplane. The hopper gate assembly is still in place but the rest of the dispersal equipment like spray pump, spreader and spray booms, boom hangers, and associated plumbing have been removed.

[@BrianUretsky]

Thanks for the info!

[@WillCrump-e5x]

My late friend James Earl "J.T." Taylor flew a 300 HP Ag Wagon for nearly 40 years. Her tail number was N5850G. Sadly, on August 27th, 2014 he was in a fatal wire strike incident. He contacted a set of TVA cross-country transmission lines that resulted in the outer half of the right wing being separated from the aircraft. The plane was thrown into a wooded area and utterly destroyed. James was a good man and that Ag-Wagon was a reliable plane. It only quit on him once and he was able to set her down in a hay field with the only damage being the tail wheel getting torn off.

[@charlesparish5127]

Note the trim tab on the elevator.

[@monostripezebras]

nice aircraft

[@Gadget_Gabe]

insert dusty crophopper meme

[@josephdupont]

How would this be for cross country

[@frontagulus]

Slow, but you could land anywhere