Cessnas 177 Cardinal can best be described as one of those should-have-been products that just never…was. Sleek, good looking and with decent payload and speed, it never quite nudged the Skyhawk into retirement, as Cessna had hoped it would. Nonetheless, the airplane still has a loyal following of owners, many of whom pine for additional speed.
That wish is now grantable in the form of a new turbonormalizing system now in the final certification stages at Tornado Alley Turbo in Ada, Oklahoma. TAT is we’ll
known for its Bonanza and Cessna 185 TN systems, not to mention its hot selling (at least until recently) turbo system for the Cirrus SR22. The new Cardinal conversion-which retails for about $40,000, all in-adds to TATs lineup.
In mid-March, we visited TATs Ada skunkworks to examine and fly the TN Cardinal RG. (Only RG owners need apply; the STC doesnt cover the fixed-gear version.) The airplane we flew was equipped with what will be the actual TN hardware, although the final dots and crossed-Ts on the paperwork were expected to be done before summer 2009.
Old STC
Tornado Alley acquired the Cardinal turbonormalizer when it bought the STCs from Flightcraft, which developed the systems during the 1990s. Although the Cardinal is a good candidate for turbonormalizing, the Flightcraft version left some engineering boxes unchecked. For one thing, that system lacked an intercooler and had plumbing and induction issues. It had a wastegate, but no induction pop-off valve and Flightcraft inherited a Cardinal problem that it never really corrected: an undersized oil cooler. Even normally aspirated Cardinals tend toward higher oil temps, despite the cowl inlets and flaps being sized sufficiently.
In stock form, the 200-HP Lycoming IO-360 in the Cardinal RG series delivers performance in the 145-knot range, give or take. Thats not stinkishly sluggy, but a Mooney J-model beats it by at least 5 knots and probably more on the same engine and fuel flow. The Cardinal is a bit draggier than the Mooney and has a slightly larger frontal area, but thats a fair compromise for having a largish cabin and more elbow room.
Although the speed was there for the taking, Cessna never bothered to turbo the Cardinal, probably because when the airplane was introduced in 1971, Cessna sales in entry level airplanes were strong and turbocharging was an upsell reserved for twins or at least singles with six-cylinder engines. Further, turbocharging was a bit