Cessna test-flies its Model 162 SkyCatcher light sport aircraft in China

The Model 162 SkyCatcher, the light sport aircraft of the Cessna Aircraft Company, has been test-flown.

Cessna 162 Skycatcher photo

The SkyCatcher was made at Shenyang Aircraft Company in north-eastern China, and the test pilot performed various handling-quality tests, according to the Cessna Aircraft Company, the aircraft maker based in Wichita, Kansas, the United States. You can also see our last story on the Skycatcher plane, Cessna 162 Skycatcher ready for deliveries.

Photo gallery: Cessna 162 Skycatcher

Jack Pelton chairman and CEO of Cessna, said the new plane has been designed with “a desire to bring people into flight training.”

The SkyCatcher planes, being produced in China, is to be disassembled and then transported to the United States, where they will be reassembled for customer delivery at one of Cessna’s 3 locations, including Yinging Aviation in Wichita, Kansas.

Cessna 162 Skycatcher plane – a video

Deliveries of the SkyCatcher aircraft, Jack Pelton said, are scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2009, and the light sport aircraft had obtained the ASTM compliance in July 2009.

Cessna 162 Skycatcher photo gallery

A light sport aircraft (LSA) is defined in the United States as a plane with a gross weight below 1,320 pounds and having a top speed of not more than 120 knots. An LSA does not require to get a certification from the Unite States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but must meet the standards formulated by the standards-setting organisation ASTM International.

Cessna Skycatcher cockpit and instrumentation photo

In a statement, Jack Pelton said the Cessna Aircraft Company is “excited” about the Model 162 SkyCatcher programme and is eagerly looking forward to the aircraft finding its place as “the light sport aircraft of choice.”

The Model 162 Skycatcher is a two-place, single-engine piston, high-wing aircraft in the light sport aircraft category.

Powered by a Continental O-200D 100-hp, air-cooled and carbureted engine and having a fixed-pitch propeller, Cessna’s Model 162 Skycatcher can  cruise at speeds reaching 118 knots.

The plane boasts of a Garmin G300 avionics system. Information is presented in a single, split-screen primary flight display (PFD) and multi-function display (MFD), or as two full-screen displays, with an optional second screen.

The SkyCatcher, which has a maximum range of 470 nautical miles, can perform Visual Flight Rules/Day/Night operations.

According to Cessna Aircraft Company, the China-based Shenyang Aircraft Company was selected after a global search for a production partner having the capacity to deal with high-quality production.

Cessna says it already has received over 1,000 orders for its Model 162 SkyCatcher.

Shenyang, which has a long track record in the production and assembly of civil and military planes, fabricates the Model 162 SkyCatcher’s fuselage and integrates the engine, avionics and systems.

The Cessna Aircraft Company – a subsidiary of the United States-based Textron – has, in collaboration with King Schools, developed a new Web-based training system for sport pilot certificate and private pilot certificate.