Cessna Aircraft Co. revealed at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Aviation Summit 2010 that production of the 162 Skycatcher continues to increase, with the 50th aircraft on its way this week to the U.S. reassembly facility and more expected to be shipped by the end of the year. Cessna is on target to deliver 30 Skycatchers by the end of the year and more than 150 in 2011.
“We are happy, not only with the increased pace of deliveries coming from Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, but with the high level of quality of the aircraft,” said Jack Pelton, Cessna chairman, president and CEO. “We are getting these aircraft into operations with individual owners and with flight schools. The response from our customers has been excellent.”
The Skycatcher, announced in 2007, is Cessna’s entry in the Light Sport Aircraft category. It features the Garmin G300 avionics suite and a Teledyne Continental O200D engine. Priced at $112,250, the two-seat, single-engine aircraft has a maximum speed of 118 knots with a maximum range of 470 nautical miles. Fabrication and assembly is centered at Shenyang Aircraft Corporation in Shenyang, China. Aircraft are shipped to Cessna’s U.S. reassembly site at Yingling Aviation in Wichita, Kan.
Designed as a low-cost flight trainer, Skycatchers have already been delivered to several Cessna Pilot Centers around the country. Cessna Pilot Centers are independently owned and operated flight training affiliates that offer Cessna’s proprietary training curriculum and Cessna aircraft for flight training. There are more than 280 CPCs in the United States and around the world. The following five CPCs are now using the 162 Skycatcher in flight training:
- Downtown Aviation; Memphis, Tenn.
- Eagle Aircraft; Valparaiso, Ind.
- Kansas Aviation; Wichita, Kan.
- Panorama Flight Service; White Plains, N.Y.
- Space Coast Aviation; Merritt Island, Fla.
For more information: Cessna.com
To bad they aren’t completely built in USA, jobs gone for good.