Cessna

One takeaway from this tragedy: Altitude is the best defense.

Cessna Aircraft’s SkyCourier, the company’s first new twin turboprop aircraft in a generation, took to the skies over Wichita, Kansas, on Sunday, May 17, for its first flight—a significant step toward entry into service for the clean-sheet aircraft. The SkyCourier departed the company’s Beech Field Airport (KBEC) east campus, with Corey Eckhart, senior test pilot […]

The Cessna 408—known by its marketing name, the SkyCourier—marked a new milestone in its development program on March 23, when Textron Aviation announced the completion of a successful series of initial ground tests, including engine run. The prototype of the twin utility turboprop, named for its primary mission, features two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65SC […]

The flight is almost over now. You’re on that early portion of the downwind, that time when the power is pulled back, and the airplane is slowing in preparation for landing. The air is like a glass-topped coffee table: smooth and clear. This gliding feeling reminds you of ice sliding on a smooth surface. Through […]

Transport Canada and the FAA are looking for input on the operation of the cargo doors on certain models of the Cessna 206, particularly those involving floatplane installations. An August 2018 accident in the Northwest Territories, Canada, trigged the request. The pilot of the Simpson Air Limited Cessna U206G had four passengers on board the […]

Effective March 9, 2020, the FAA has released an airworthiness directive calling for the inspection of Cessna 210s in a specific model range, to determine the presence of corrosion and evidence of fatigue in the carry-through spar lower cap and carrying out mitigating preventative maintenance. The AD comes as the result of an in-flight breakup […]

AVIAA, a business aviation group purchasing organization formed in 2017, recently announced a partnership with Carlsbad, California-based LOFT as another strategic partner to provide Cessna Citation simulator training for AVIAA’s membership. The partnership taps into LOFT’s 15 years of training experience on the Citation business jet line, providing experienced flight instruction to Cessna Citation and […]

More than 72 years have passed since the Cessna 172 first appeared on engineering drawing boards in Kansas, and the airplane still figures into the training plan for many pilots who learn to fly around the world. While the powerplant options continue to evolve, with the JT-A burning Jet-A, and an electric-powered version in the […]

The Citation Jet Pilots Association met in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this past September, and I went to see what it was all about. With a recently purchased 19-year-old CJ1 in our hangar, we finally qualified for membership. Going required a certain suspension of skepticism on my part. I am not a natural joiner of groups. […]

A year ago, Textron Aviation predicted the first flight of its Cessna Denali turboprop would take place by the end of 2019, but delays in the testing of the new Catalyst engine from GE Aviation have translated into a later delivery of the first test engines to Textron Aviation. The company expects those engines now […]