Cessna 206 Stationair

FLYING Staff

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Cessna 206

Key Takeaways:

The Cessna 206, originating in 1963, has evolved from a utility-focused aircraft to a modern fixed-gear piston single primarily suited for personal and business use, particularly effective for comfortably transporting four people and their baggage over reasonable distances.
Despite increased empty weight in newer models due to crashworthiness and other improvements, the 206 maintains a strong useful load, enabling full fuel capacity even with four occupants and luggage, and offers good cruise performance and range.
Modern 206s feature advanced avionics like the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, while retaining acclaimed flying qualities, being considered one of Cessna's "friendliest flying" piston singles with effective flaps and a unique spring-steel landing gear that provides stable ground handling.

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I told our son on the phone that I was going to fly a new 206. He asked if that wasn’t the airplane we flew to Alabama on his first birthday. It was. He will be 41 in August. The 206 has been around for a long time. The biggest change over time, up until now, was the switch from a Continental to a Lycoming engine. This occurred when the airplane went back into production in 1998, after a hiatus of 12 years in which Cessna stopped building piston-powered airplanes.

There were other changes and the airplane actually has an interesting history.