Cessna 162 Skycatcher Should Grab a Chunk of the Flight Training Market

AirVenture is so much different than Paris. You can actually get close to the new machines in Oshkosh, which is just what I did this morning when Cessna officially unveiled the new Cessna 162 Skycatcher, the airplane giant’s new entry in the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) category.

EAA president Tom Poberezny sat on stage today with Cessna CEO Jack Pelton during the ceremony. “People today have much higher expectations for training airplanes than they did years ago,” he told the audience. Cessna hopes the 162 will fill that hole that has been vacant in the training aircraft marketplace for many years.

Although copies of the new two-place Cessna won’t become available until the second half of 2009, orders are now being taken in Oshkosh. $5000 reserves a slot on the first 1,000 airframes.

The cabin is wide, as wide as a Cessna 206, according to Cessna CEO Jack Pelton. I didn’t do the math, but I can tell you the 162 was much more comfortable than either of the Cessna 152s I’ve owned.

The airplane will use a composite propeller attached to a standard 100 hp Continental engine that Cessna market research revealed customers wanted.

The 162 uses a stick that emerges from the center panel like a control wheel. Cessna didn’t want to waste valuable floor real estate with a traditional control stick. The company has a patent pending on the new style too.  Avionics are the Garmin 300 with a moving map.  An autopilot is an option. There are no current plans to certify the aircraft for IFR.

The airplane uses gull-wing doors mounted in front of the strut for ease of entry. Ground handling is via differential braking and a castering nose gear.

An interesting side-note is that even though it is not required for certification, Pelton said, Cessna will submit a 162 to fatigue and static load testing before it comes on line.

Cessna plans to paint the interior on this airplane, rather than sell the model we’re all used to with those ugly plastic bits. They would either fall on the floor during flight or buzzed so much I wanted to tear them off myself.

Useful load on the 162 comes in just a tad under 500 lbs. With maximum fuel load at 24 gallons, two people and gas with leave room for a few small items, or about the same as the 152.

Cessna has borrowed an idea from Cirrus that will add just one more element of trust to any student who learns to fly in the 162 … a ballistic parachute option.

Technorati tags: Cessna Aircraft, Cessna 162, AirVenture, Jack Pelton, Light Sport Aircraft, Garmin 300