Business Flying
in Europe,
1970 Style
Returning to Europe from South America, I bought a used Cessna 177 Cardinal RG and used it extensively for custumer calls and giving presentations in most countries of the old continent, both this side of and behind the iron curtain. After three years of IFR - business flying, I finally outgrew the capabilities of my single-engine, non-radar aircraft. All too often I was forced to cancel a visit because the weather was worse than my no de-iceing high-winger could handle although I was certified to cope with it.
It was time to think of a real all-weather business aircraft.

My friend and chief maintenance engineer, the celebrated aerobatics ace and later Swiss Air Rescue chief pilot Christian Schweizer was doing some side-business at the time importing aircraft from the United States.
When Christian heard of my nursing the idea to swap the Cessna Cardinal RG for an all-weather plane, he offered a ride in a Cessna 210. Its owner, a surgeon at the city hospital, growing too old to guide his airplane or his scalpel in a safe way, had decided to sell.
So we arranged for a demonstration flight to Bern and back to our home base, Basel. Chris did both the take-off and the landing, but let me fly her inbetween. "She handles a bit heavy, like a truck", I ventured. In reply I was shown the functioning of the three-axis autopilot. Now that was something new to me!
Doubling as a good salesman, Chris was determined to show me the smooth handling of HB-CUG. He took off his sunglasses, placed them on top of the instrument panel, opened his safety belt and turned to me saying: "Observe my Ray-Bans, don't touch anything and don't be afraid." I complied with the former two, but declined the latter.
The Cessna 210, a cantilevered single with retractible undercarriage is a sturdy aircraft, but not to the extent of being certified for aerobatics. Before I could raise my voice in protest, Chris had rolled the Cessna a full 360 degrees while the glasses near the glare shield hardly moved at all. Needless to say he did not fall out of his seat either. He just calculated his roll speed to be just right to compensate centrifugal force. It was literally a breathtaking demonstration.

I didn't buy the Cessna at the end, because Christian came up with a challenging offer: "How about a twin?", he asked.
My reply was that I would probably never be good enough to operate a fistful of throttles. "Nonsense, I'll prepare you for both your multi-engine license and the type-rating".

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