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About the Author ...
Mike Busch iseditor-in-chiefof AVweb, amember ofthe
technicalstaff at
Cessna Pilots Association, and
in a prior lifetime was acontributing editor for TheAviation
Consumer and IFRMagazine. A 6,000-hourcommercial pilot and CFI
withairplane, instrument andmultiengine ratings, Mike hasbeen
flying for 36 years and anaircraft owner for 33. For the
past 14 of those years, he'sowned and flown a CessnaT310R
turbocharged twin, whichhe maintains himself. In hisnever-ending
quest to become atrue renaissance man ofaviation, Mike's on the
verge ofearning his A&P mechaniccertificate. Mike and his wife
Jan
reside on the central coast ofCalifornia in a semi-rural
areawhere he can't get DSL or cable
The New Cessna Singles: Who's Going to Buy Them?
May 18, 1997
by Mike Busch
veryone in General Aviation pilots, journalists, alphabet groups
and even competitive plane makers
seems to be happy to see Cessna building piston aircraft again.
After a decade-long hiatus, theappearance of new piston Cessnas has
been widely hailed as a sign that G.A. is finally on the road
back
from near extinction.
But at the same time, many are asking "who's going to buy
them?"
Ever since Cessna announced the prices of their new
Independence-built Skyhawks and Skylanes at Oshkosh '96,the
letters-to-the-editor columns in the general aviation press have
been brimming with grass-roots criticism.
One letter called the new Cessna 172 "the rough technological
and stylistic equivalent of a 1966 Chevy Nova...atthe price of two
Mercedes."
Another called the announced $124,500 base price of the new
Skyhawk "incredible" and suggested that $75,000 or$80,000 would be
appropriate.
The New Cessna Singles: Who's Going to Buy Them?
http://www.avweb.com/news/reviews/182570-1.html?type=pf
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The problem is that Cessna is having a hard time ramping up
production as quickly as originally planned. It's taking longer
than expected to staff upthe Independence plant and to get the new
workforce fully up-to-speed. So it now looks like the projected
2,000-per-year goal won't be met until1999.
These slippages only tend to fuel further skepticism about
whether Cessna's single-engine program will be successful. But I
can't help thinking that
once people learn what first-rate airplanes the new Cessnas
really are, the planes will continue to sell as fast as Cessna can
crank them out.
For additional information about the new Cessna singles, see
Cessna's sponsor pages on AVweb and also Cessna's own company
web
site.
Copyright Aviation Publishing Group. All rights reserved
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