Cessna has made the first production flight of its Turbo Skylane 182 JT-A.
The flight took place yesterday at the Cessna plant in Independence, Kan. The JT-A is the first modern single-engine aircraft powered by a piston engine specifically designed to run on Jet-A fuel.
"The Turbo Skylane JT-A performed just as expected," said Cessna senior test pilot Dale Bleakney. "The weather conditions were fantastic, and we took the turbo 182 up for what turned out to be a very normal first flight. We flew for 2.3 hours, achieved a flight level of 8,000 feet, and attained a true air speed of 158 kts. We brought it in and did some takeoffs and landings, and everything went as expected."
"The JT-A is the result of years or hard work put in by our engineering, research, and manufacturing teams," said Jeff Umscheid, business leader for the Cessna 172, 182 and 206 model aircraft.
"This is ground-breaking in that it is the first aircraft powered by a diesel engine specifically designed for aviation. Operators will find many surprising advantages with the JT-A, and pilots will enjoy the lower workload. Add to this the benefit of being able to fuel it with a much cheaper, more available fuel anywhere in the world and it's not difficult to see why the JT-A is in such demand."
Powering the JT-A is a Safran SMA engine of 227 HP that drinks 41 litres of jet fuel per hour, giving a cruise speed of 158 kts. Cessna is estimating a range of 1025 nm and a useful load of 462 kg.
A JT-A demonstrator is thought to be coming to Australia later this year.