Cessna has announced it is continuing to increase the production rate of its new C162 Skycatcher LSA.
At the (US) AOPA Aviation Summit 2010 in Long Beach, California today, Cessna reps said the 50th Skycatcher is now on its way to the US reassembly facility and more are expected to be shipped by the end of the year. Cessna says it is on target to delivery 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,” Cessna chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton said. “We are getting these aircraft into operations with individual owners and with flight schools. The response from our customers has been excellent.”
Announced in 2007, the Skycatcher is Cessna’s entry in the burgeoning light sport aircraft (LSA) category. Designed as a low-cost flight trainer and aimed as a replacement to the long-serving C152, the C162 features the Garmin G300 avionics suite and a Teledyne Continental O200D engine.
Priced at US$112,250, the two-seat, single-engine aircraft has a maximum speed of 118 knots and 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 US reassembly site at Yingling Aviation in Wichita.
While the first Skycatchers had been slated to arrive in Australia in 2010, it now looks more likely that they won’t make to our shores until sometime next year. To read more on the Skycatcher click here.
CAPTION: Inside the Skycatcher reassembly factory at Yingling Aviation in Wichita. (Cessna)