John and Debbie Casalengo are the proud owners of the first Cessna 182 with the serial number 33000. In 1956 Cessna manufactured the 182 which proved to be the soundest. They have the best rate of climb at 1200 fpm with a ceiling of 20,000 feet. Its’ tail numbers are N4966E.

It has quite an interesting history. In 1956 it was bought by Ignacio Martines from Torreon Mexico. The plane was delivered from the factory with optional equipment which included duel controls and sun visors clock and a carburetor temperature gage. After 1100 flying hours it was sold to Don Steffl from New Ulm, Minnesota in 1961. It became the family plane for the farmer and his family of 7 children. Don owned 4966E for 40 years. He never flew in the dark or the rain and always maintained the plane as an integral part of the family lifestyle. After his death the family sold the plane to Ed Croymans of Kalispell, Montana in 2001. Ed went through the entire plane and updated or replaced many of the gages and radios. In 2002 Ed had a new propeller and Continental 0-470L motor installed. Ed kept all the original gages and radios that had been replaced or upgraded. In 2002, 4966E was purchased by John Casalegno who has became owner and “curator” of all the original parts. John had taken up flying just a few years earlier with the help of Bill Werner one of the best flight instructors in the state of Montana.

First 4966E was taken to the shop of Penelope’s Interiors. Penny, the owner is doing this part of the project. Shelves were made to accommodate the seats and the other parts she will be recovering. She has spent months researching to find the original designs and fabrics to redo the headliner, seat covers and carpets. The plane was then taken to Edwards Jet Center at Glacier International Airport where they are dismantling the plane and stripping the paint. We made special shelves to hold all the parts including the wings. From there the parts are being taken over to John’s shop where he works on sanding parts at night and after work. On the weekends he has enlisted the help of family and friends to sand plane parts. From there the next step is to get all theses parts to the shop of Dave Cano. Dave has many years of experience in restoring old cars and planes so we are very comfortable with him running the whole restoration. He will be inspecting the sanded parts and supervising the buffing. After the buffing is completed the plane will be all polished aluminum and painted with the original Pawnee Yellow scheme. Then the interior can be put back into the plane. Rocky Mountain Aviation is also involved. They are re-skinning the flaps and ailerons with new aluminum. We are hoping to have the plane completely restored and back in the air to show it at the air show in Kalispell, Montana on July 30th and 31st, 2005. But most important is to have it completed so John and his son Mark, who is also a licensed pilot, can be up flying 4966E.