25 July 2006
Was it a plane? Was it a bird? That’s what the crowds at Oshkosh were asking. But actually, no – it was much more exciting than that.
The aircraft which made a number of passes in front of the crowds – generally with the sun behind it, so details were difficult to see – was the ‘Next Generation Piston’ aircraft which Cessna had been working on for some time (colloquially known as the ‘Cirrus-killer’). What one could see, though, was that it was a forward-swept wings, no strut and a modern looking fuselage.
Cessna declared themselves delighted with the progress they were making on the aircraft, which first flew a month ago and now has 20 hours on the clock. “It will set new standards in perfomance, safety and comfort”, claimed CEO Jack Pelton.
On the same day, Cessna also unveiled its new Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) proof-of-concept airframe in a static display.
Cessna announced recently that it was looking into the LSA market, and this is the first step to getting into it. Cessna, however, stresses that it’s not yet made the firm decision to enter that market. But observers suggest that it would be very surprising if the firm did not do so.
The LSA package – which is a legal category in the US – is for lighter, simpler aircraft and a simpler pilot’s licence. It’s an area of aviation which is burgeoning over there, and with its history of supplying training aircraft and its production and sales resources, Cessna seems ideally placed to take advantage.
<a href=’http://www.cessna.com’ target=’_blank’>www.cessna.com</a>
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Oshkosh, where these ‘launches’ took place, is the annual <a href=’http://www.airventure.org/’ target=’_blank’>AirVenture</a> fly-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It’s the biggest fly-in in the world by a large margin, and regularly attracts the year’s biggest news. It started yesterday and continues for a week. It is run by the Experimental Aircraft Association
