Cessna Aircraft Company has scored a major win with its C162 Skycatcher recently named the winner of the Piper General Aviation Award for 2010 from global aerospace technical society American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Named in honour of William T. Piper, Sr., the founder and first President of Piper Aircraft Corporation, the AIAA Piper General Aviation Award is given annually to a company or product judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of GA.
The inaugural AIAA Piper General Aviation Award was handed out in 1989 to Fred Weick of the Piper Aircraft Company. Other innovators to have previously received the award include (US) National Air Transportation Association President James K. Coyne, Sam B. Williams, founder of engine manufacturer Williams International, and the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory at Mississippi State University.
“This recognition for the Cessna design team is well-deserved and makes the hard work worthwhile,” David Brant, Cessna’s senior vice president of engineering, said after the announcement was made in mid-June. “An award from AIAA is like winning an Oscar since it comes from fellow aerospace engineering professionals.”
Skycatcher design team members Neal Willford (Project Engineer) and Derek Mookhoek (Program Manager) will accept the award on behalf of Cessna at the 10th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference in Houston, Texas in mid-September.
The C612 Skycatcher is Cessna’s entry into the light sport aircraft (LSA) category, and considered by many to effectively be the long-awaited update to the iconic yet now dated C152. The two-place Skycatcher is powered by a Continental O-200D 100 horsepower air-cooled engine with a fixed-pitch propeller. It can cruise at speeds up to 118 knots and has a maximum range of 470 nautical miles.
Its cockpit features a Garmin G300 avionics system, with information presented in a single, split-screen primary flight display (PFD) and multi-function display (MFD), or as two full-screen displays with an optional second screen. The Skycatcher will be capable of visual flight rules, day, and night operations, and has a base price of US$112,500.
Testament to its early popularity, Cessna had in excess of 1000 Skycatcher orders already on its books prior to the first customer aircraft being delivered to Rose Pelton, the wife of Cessna CEO, President and Chairman Jack Pelton, in mid-December 2009.
While Cessna has since been forced to revise its Skycatcher delivery schedule due to aircraft modifications delaying initial deliveries, the company says it’s now working with production partner Shenyang Aircraft Corp in China to ramp up deliveries through the rest of 2010.
Rumours have recently surfaced regarding Skycatcher production being shifted from China to Mexico, but Cessna boss Pelton recently told Australian Flying that that is not the case and production will remain in China.