While the industry looks for avgas alternatives, Cessna is taking the future of aviation fuel technology into its own hands with the new Skylane JT-A.
A naturally aspirated model is still available. If the JT-A winds up performing as Cessna hopes it will — and there are still kinks to be worked out — the model could quickly become the best-selling diesel airplane ever.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.Special caps and huge placards will keep 100LL from mistakenly being pumped into the jet-fuel-only tanks of the Cessna 182 JT-A.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.Squared off and aggressive-looking, the front section of the Cessna 182 JT-A’s cowling is very different in style from those of Skylanes that came before.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.Modifications to the cowling design include larger, longer-throw cowl flaps for improved cooling. They operate exactly the same way as conventional Cessna 182 cowl flaps do, including making use of the same lever mechanisms in the cockpit.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.Mechanics can remove different cowl pieces of the Cessna 182 JT-A to access different components for service. The procedure requires undoing numerous cam lock screws and takes about five minutes to remove all four panels.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.The emergency engine-shutoff valve of the Cessna 182 JT-A eliminates all doubt about whether the engine is continuing to run or not. With a compression engine, the difference between a running engine and a motoring one can be difficult to discern.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.**I’m not used to seeing manifold pressures like this either, even on turbocharged airplanes. One look at this and the beefy block suddenly makes sense. ** Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.The G1000 suite features engine gauges for the SMA diesel. Note two “power” levers; the red one isn’t for mixture but for emergency backup use only.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.The black power lever is for adjusting percentage of power. For takeoff and climb, you go to 100 percent power. For cruise, you pull it back to 90 percent. That’s all there is to it. There’s no prop control or mixture. The computer takes care of it all and does whatever it takes to give you your commanded level of power.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.Engine preheat leads run to each of the four cylinders. The preheat takes a matter of moments, and the start even in cold weather is, according to Cessna, automatic. After you start, however, you need to wait a short while before you can apply full power because the oil takes some time to heat up.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.Constructed from carbon fiber with metal leading-edge protectors, the Hartzell three-blade prop is very light in weight and low in inertia. It presents some interesting performance traits to the Skylane’s repertoire.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.The key has a start position, but you’ll surely notice that there are no mag positions. Cessna has considered using a push button, but the key does provide some security. The engine preheat switch to the left can be safely ignored at temperatures above 40 degrees or so.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.The Experimental airplane I flew was outfitted with an optical tach sensor. The Cessna 182 JT-A has a max rpm of 2,200, give or take an rpm or two. It’s quiet and smooth and on the ground turns heads with its unique sound.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.The pressures in a diesel engine are enormous — typical manifold pressures are around 80 inches — and the hardware that holds the components together looks more like something you’d use to build a bridge than a lightweight aircraft engine.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.In the Cessna 182 JT-A, the engine was moved six inches forward from the placement of the STC SMA diesel technology engine in the Skylane. This puts the prop arc in the same place as it was on the T182T. Because the JT-A has only four cylinders instead of six, there’s plenty of room under the cowl. The total SMA installation weighs only around 15 pounds more than that of the Lycoming in the turbo 182, thanks to the savings gained from the use of a carbon fiber prop.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.Read our full-length feature on the Cessna 182 JT-A here.
