Wings of Hope, the 60-year old humanitarian aviation not-for-profit, has recently received the donation of this 1961 172 at Mesa, AZ (FFZ – Falcon Field). The plane was cared for, and babied, by an A&P/IA and pilot since 2003. The owner was one of the founders of the “Cessnas to Oshkosh” mass fly-ins. Unfortunately, he had a stroke and the plane has been sitting in its hangar, since 2012 (like a time capsule). He passed away this year and his family donated it to us. We opened the hangar on August 18 and found it in the condition shown by the photos. We hired SWAZ aviation to make it airworthy again. The main items we found were that it appears the owner was in the middle of his annual: one cylinder was removed (with a brand new one waiting to be installed), only one of the tires was flat (but the owner had new tires and tubes in an unopened box so it was quickly changed), some interior in-work items (rear armrests, pilot’s door handle, ELT dash wiring) and an ADS-B tail beacon installed. Within 3 hours of opening the hangar, the 172 was tugged over to SWAZ to be washed off and the new Annual Inspection started. Their initial inspection found 30 discrepancies, the meaty ones being sending the mags out for 500 hr inspections, putting on the new cylinder and timing the engine, replace the fuel lines, various gaskets & seals, and getting a battery installed, Once the engine is running, we will get a better handle on its health. A 1961 172 is considered the “fastback” since it has the swept tail but it did not have the rear window of the later models. It also has manual flaps (similar to a Piper Cherokee). This 172 has only 2749 hrs total time and the engine has 1326 hrs on it since overhaul. The owner had a very complete, documented history of the plane, including the original brochure, the production flight test report, the original packing sheet/Equipment List/W&B, and his personalized ball cap with the N-number. Our plan is to sell it, from Falcon Field, to its next “caretaker”. A purchase from Wings of Hope will help fund our free patient transportation in both the US and our international partners.