Cessna, now part of Textron Aviation, has rolled out its 2500th Caravan utility turboprop at Wichita in the United States.
The latest C208 Caravan, a Grand Caravan EX, is destined for an Alaskan operator, fitting considering that’s where the first Caravan went in 1985. Bering Air already operates 30 aircraft including six Caravans and will receive two more after the 2500th aircraft. The company has more than 20 years and 120,000 hours experience with the type, serving 32 villages on Alaska’s Bering Sea coast, many of which have no road connection.
The Caravan is the largest single engine aircraft ever produced by Cessna, and was yet another design built around the impressive power to weight ratio and reliability of Pratt and Whitney’s PT6A gas turbine, initially the PT6A-114 turboprop engine providing 448 kW (600 SHP). Intended to replace ageing fleets of piston powered utility aircraft like the De Havilland Canada Beaver and Otter, the first C208 had a maximum take-off weight of 3310kg and a take-off run of around 1000 feet.
The type’s future was assured when package delivery specialist Federal Express asked Cessna to build a variant optimised for the parcel business. The 208A Cargomaster was so successful it was later stretched to become the Super Cargomaster, with a more powerful PT6. FedEx has acquired more than 260 Caravans.
Like all solid designs, the Caravan has been modified, stretched, re-engined and used in ways the original designers could barely have imagined. The type has gained 600kg in maximum take-off weight and is now capable of carrying 14 passengers. It has been factory fitted with more powerful PT6 engines, but also retrofitted by aftermarket companies with PT6s of 634kw (850 SHP), Honeywell TPE-331 turbines of up to 746kw (1000 SHP) and even the Soloy Dual-Pac power plant, with two PT6D-114A engines driving a single propeller through a shared gearbox.
The Caravan has operated from wheels, skis and both straight and amphibious floats and served as everything from airliner to private aircraft, surveillance and law enforcement platform, aerial ambulance, freighter, military transport and even as a reconnaissance aircraft capable of firing Hellfire missiles, and an “optionally piloted” version testing its suitability as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Its ability to carry useful loads in to unprepared airstrips in remote and high-altitude locations has often transformed the logistics of disaster relief and support for remote communities.
Now assembled in China as well as the United States, the aircraft is certified in 100 countries and has amassed more than 13 million flight hours.