Cessna Introduces Jet-A Skylane

TBO is 2,400 hours, as the story says. TCM is not involved in this program in any way, it's SMA and Cessna with help from Lycoming. Certified ceiling will be 20,000 feet. As for who can afford it, that will be up to buyers to decide. But how many other diesel singles are there? Price for a current turbo 182 is 443k. So it's a premium you're getting a lot more airplane too.

The TBO is listed in the article at 2,400 hours - pretty good!

The price of all new aircraft these days is prohibitively expensive for most average Americans. The price of new aircraft really is out of line with incomes - especially when a beautiful home with many upgrades costs only $300,000 where I live. The LSA category was supposed to address this issue with with sub 100k airplanes but most LSAs are falling much closer to 150k than 100k. The only option for most buyers is a 1970s aircraft or airplane partnerships. This aircraft doesn't really represent the first step most pilots will take from rental aircraft to initial ownership but instead remains far above what I ever anticipate owning. And my household earns $100k per year.

1970 California Median Home Price: $88,700
1970 New Skylane 182N Price: $20,895

And AOPA had to do a whole study on why the pilot population is dwindling.

All that aside, I am glad Cessna is moving in this direction. Leaded gas will soon be history.

@gsmorgansen Thanks or pointing out an error in the article, the 1,160 nm range is at MAX SPEED of 155 knots, not with full fuel. Cessna says the full-fuel range will be about 1,400 nm, and who'd want to fly that far (at reduced speed) before stopping?

@b.read Cessna sure made it sound like the 182 is just the first diesel model it will offer. It also says the avgas 182 is being discontinued, so I think you can read between the lines here.

Nice try but at half a million bucks it is still a Cessna 182 and very few people will drop that much on a single engine plane. No matter the difficulty of obtaining 100LL gas, it is a lot cheaper than the diesel version. Now if you really want speed and comfort including a potty and long range, and a reasonable price, man, there is plenty of 1980-90 Beech C-90s in top shape selling for .50 to 1.25 million. Yeah, direct and indirect operating costs are twice as much but no comparison.

$515,000 for the base price....I see the death of the single engine Cessna line. True, there are folks that will probably buy a 182 at that price, but most of us have been priced out of general aviation a long time ago. It's still fun to see what's being offered out there, even if it's way out of reach.

When are we going to see the Stationair NXT? I have been considering a Turbo Stationair for a while now and a Stationair NXT would be far better for my purposes.

With my $4.3M salary this year, while working in the aviation industry, I'm sure I can afford this classic. Oh, wait, who am I kidding. Prices like that are absurd, and certainly the price/performance ratio is significantly skewed. I can't imagine trying to make money with such an expensive aircraft (a 4 cylinder, single engine, 4 seater). I did ask SMA about the cost of the engine last year. If I remember correctly, it was North of $100,000. In an attempt to compare aircraft prices from the 1960's and the average American's income, to today's income/aircraft price ratio. The results are not good. Aircraft are many times more expensive today, any way you look at it. There is no question in my mind a well run business can produce goods cheaper than they can be made "at home". Yet, in the aviation world, experimental aircraft are the better bargain. Something is clearly wrong.