Circumstances have twice seen the Cessna C182 Skylane deleted from Wichita's product offering, and yet this big single is still on the market today after 70 years in operation.
First flown in September 1955 and delivered the following year, the C182 was deleted in 1984 when Cessna ceased production of all single-engined pistons over liability concerns, resurrected in 1994 when Bill Clinton signed the General Aviation Revitalization Act, and deleted it again in 2013 to make way for the diesel-powered Skylane JT-A.
When the JT-A project foundered two years later, Wichita once again turned to its old faithful C182 to fill a glaring gap in the product line. It's still on the market today.
Along with the smaller C172 Skyhawk, the C182 was one of two airframes that ushered in the tricycle undercarriage revolution in the mid 1950s. Although Beechcraft had pioneered the nosewheel in civil aviation with the Bonanza, Cessna and Piper had stuck with the tried and true tailwheel configuration with the C170 and C180 until 1955.
It was in September that year that Cessna introduced "Land-o-matic", a marketing term used to lure customers with the ease of ground handling and landing that came standard with a nosewheel compared to a tailwheel. It worked; pilots whose footwork was less than optimal on landing found a happy home with the Land-o-matic C172 Skyhawk, a development of the C170.
The problem was that the C172 was a little underpowered for the tastes of many customers, leading Cessna to introduce a nosewheel version of the C180. The result was the C182 Skylane, which, along with the Skyhawk, would eventually kick the tailwheel models out of the Cessna nest completely.
"The 182 Skylane is the airplane for the pilot ... who is just a little dissatisfied with the 172, which often seems to be a bit underpowered, a little too light, and a little too little all around," said aviation author James Ellis.
"There's nothing too little or too underpowered about the Skylane. This is a big, solid, powerful handful ... an honest airplane."
That honesty, combined with high utility and lots of lovely power, gave Cessna a weapon to entice business flyers, and the nosewheel concept was so successful that it spawned the C150, C175, C205, C206, C207 and C210, and ultimately forced Piper Aircraft to follow suit with their own iconic PA-28 in 1961.
Central to the Skylane's longevity has been the powerplant. Initially a 230-hp Continental O-470 flat six swinging a two-blade constant-speed propeller, today's C182T sports a Lycoming IO-540 with a three-blade McCauley.
The pure grunt has enabled customers to deploy the C182 on a mission range that covers the entire gamut of GA operations. Skylanes have been flown on charter, hauled hay around stations and ranches, dropped parachutists, performed rescue operations, checked powerlines, done survey work, chased robbers, done military reconnaissance and just plain transported people.
But the 182 was not a stagnant airframe; over the journey, it has seen its share of modifications. Reims Aircraft put a turbo-charged O-540 in it to created the TR182, Cessna gave it folding wheels in 1977 as the C182RG, Robertson developed a STOL kit to turn it into a classic backcountry aeroplane and for a time they were even made in Argentina as the DINFIA A182.
Perhaps the most curious "variant" is the AeroPilot Legend 600, a scaled-down version adapted to the current LSA standard. Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery.
Today, the 182 is still punching holes in the sky in the form of the Cessna C182T and turbo-charged T182T. Modernised with Garmin G1000 NXi avionics with modern features like stability protection, the aircraft is a far cry from the machine that first flew in September 1955.
“The Skylane is designed to go the distance,” says Chris Crow, vice president, Textron Aviation Piston and Utility Sales. “With modern avionics and a proven design, the 182 blends the latest innovations with a legacy of dependability.”
Over 23,000 Skylanes have been rolled out since 1955, which is enough evidence of the model's success and ongoing popularity, but in terms of pure speed, it faces a formidable competitor in the Cirrus SR22/T.
Even so, the fact that Textron returned it to production after the JT-A foundered is evidence of an aeroplane that is still in demand and still delivers in a niche market after 70 years.