Home > Cessna 172

The 172 was a direct descendant of the Cessna 170, which used conventional ( taildragger) landing gear instead of tricycle gear. Early 172s looked almost identical to the 170, with the same straight aft fuselage and tall gear legs, but later versions incorporated revised landing gear, a lowered rear deck, and an aft window. Cessna advertised this added rear visibility as "Omnivision," a selling point which would have been a hard sell if the new fuselage's performance decrease had been publicized. The final structural development, in the mid- 1960s, was the sweptback tail still used today.

The airframe has remained almost unchanged since then, with updates to avionics and engines. Production ended in the mid- 1980s, but was resumed in 1996 with the 160 hp (120kW) 172S and 180 hp (135kW) 172SP.

The Skyhawk is one of the world's most popular flight training aircraft.The Skyhawk's main competitors have been the popular Piper Cherokee and the Beechcraft Musketeer , which is rarer and no longer in production. The older Skyhawks shipped with a 145 horsepowerThe horsepower hp is the name of several non-metric units of power. In scientific discourse the horsepower is rarely used due to the various definitions and the existence of an SI unit for power, the watt (W). However, the idea of horsepower persists as a (110 kW) engine; later planes shipped with engines up to 180 horsepower (135 kW), though 150 or 160 hp (110 or 120 kW) is more common. Cessna produced a retractable-gear version of the 172 named the Cutlass RG, and also produced versions on floats. The normal cruising speed for a fixed-gear 172 ranges from about 105 to 125 knots, depending on the engine and vintage.

The Skyhawk is part of a large family of high-wing, tricycle-gear, single-engine Cessna planes, ranging from the two-seater 150/ 152The Cessna 152 is a two-seat, fixed tricycle gear general aviation airplane, primarily used for flight training. 152 history The 152, first officially manufactured in 1978, was the upgrade and modernization of the Cessna 150. 152s use only Lycoming O-235 (no longer in production) to the more powerful 182 SkylaneThe Cessna 182 also called the Skylane is a 4 seater single engine light aircraft. The 182 is the second most popular model of Cessna after the 172. Several variants of the plane have been offered over the years. History The Cessna 182 was introduced in 1, the six-seat 206 Stationair , and the fourteen-seat turboprop 208 Caravan , along with several other models no longer produced.

See also: T-41 MescaleroT-41 Mescalero Description RolePrimary Pilot Trainer Crew1 or 2 Dimensions Length26. 21 m Wingspan35. 92 m Height8. 69 m Wing area159 sq ft14. 77 m² Weights Empty1,363 lb618 kg Loaded2,300 lb1,043 kg Powerplant EnginesOne Continental IO-360-D (C variant).