Cessna Destroys SkyCatchers

[pelmet]

I found it to be a bit of a strange aircraft and not the nicest flying machine but.....do they really need to scrap them like this?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 222&type=3

[CpnCrunch]

They should have just brought the 152 back into production.

[KAG]

I know nothing about this plane, but damn seems like such a waste.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Rumour was the internal to Cessna nickname for this aircraft was " Ground Catcher " because of the crashes during it's development.

[photofly]

Was a horrible airplane and they have done the world a great service.

[CpnCrunch]

I think the main problem was lack of useful load, combined with the high price. Nobody bought the damn thing.

I'm hopeful that the FAR rewrite will create some interesting opportunities for reasonably priced certified planes.

[oldtimer]

Beechcraft did the same thing with the Starship.
Because of poor performance and very slow sales, Beech bought as many of the airplanes in use that they could and scrapped them so they would not have to provide product support.

[co-joe]

Shirley they could have made go-carts or sewing machines with the engines at least.

[Caracrane]

saw a couple of them out of KVNY, seemed to outperform the 152. Had the opportunity to visit one of them at the cessna facilty in Wichita two years ago. Very nice airplane. Cessna 162 i think. This ac was built in China and assembled in US I was told by one of the facility manager. Continental engine though. I would have put a Lycoming like the 152 0-320 L2C.

[goingnowherefast]

It would be over the 100hp limit for the FAA LSA category. That said, Lycoming has a O-233 that's based on the O-235 and designed for the LSA category.

[boeingboy]

I'd take a Continental over a Lycoming any day!

The sad part of this is it could have been a money maker for Cessna had it been done right. There are more than a few LSA planes out there with far better performance and much cheaper than the 162.

Another problem is that the LSA category has not caught on like most hoped it would.

[photofly]

They were so badly made in China that Cessna had to strip them apart and rebuild them when they arrived in the US.

[goingnowherefast]

The used aircraft market is so cheap relative to the new market that it will be near impossible to bring out anything. You can buy a 150 for 30 grand, why spend 150 grand for a new version of the same plane.

Stick an Aspen glass panel in your 150 and it's still 1/3rd the price of a 162.

[photofly]

The same is true for the 172 and the 182 both of which are on sale new at ten or twelve times the cost of a reasonable used one. I think there would be a market for new 152s.

[Illya Kuryakin]

Same thing AVRO did with the Arrow
Illya

[Meatservo]

Same thing I did with a bunch of my model planes.