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Cessna 172 Skyhawk: An Insight Into The Facts and History
The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is one of the most successful general aviation airplanes worldwide, used extensively for flight training and recreational flying.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/nycav...~4/la7uiX-zGGc
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Thanks for the article, my first lessons were in the Skyhawk
Was this some 4th grader's book report?
No, it was written by an airplane salesman...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mateo
Author Daniel Kevin Mammone, Sales Executive at SkyIntel.com, is truly inspired by the aviation industry and has dedicated himself to assisting in the growth of SkyIntel.com as the leading technology in aircraft realtime listings.
Wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by moose135
Sorry if you guys didn't like that article. I myself always look for ways to learn about an area I know little about...GA aircraft. I added the bio to plug the author's business as a form of gratitude to the author.
Appreciate the feedback...it helps us guide future content. :)
I enjoyed the article. It was a quick read, which this generation seems to like. Anyhow, one thing I learned hanging out with GA guys is that a 4-seater is in reality a 3-seater when considering the fuel weight and pax weight and anything else brought on board. I am not saying you can't get 4 pax on a 4-seater, but for weight and balance issues it is more often the case to max at out at 3, esp. if the pax are adult males weighing between 170-210 lbs. If anyone has more insight on this, I'm all ears. It reminds me of tents that are sold as 4-persons. You can get 4 people in there, but nothing else and it doesn't usually allow much maneuvering room inside the tent.
Ironically, older planes often have better useful load than newer ones. New ones come with lots of fancy (and heavy) extras. I can put four in an old Archer no problem with fuel to the tabs, but the new ones can barely fit three with the same fuel. I also fly some old 172s that have better useful loads then the new ones, but even old ones are really just 3 seaters since the max takeoff weight is lower than the Archer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dabbey
Newer Mooneys are even worse. The only way to be able to get any useful load was to increase the max gross weight, but they didn't change the gear, so the max landing weight is very low. My CFI buddy pointed that out to a pilot and CFI that had jut flown a quick hop in it. They calculated it out and were well over MLW.
The Piper Cherokee line has been in production nearly as long as the 172, it has just had more name changes. They are all PA28-something though (PA28-140,-160,-180,-161,-181, etc), but known as Cherokee or Warrior or Archer, etc.
I'm all in favor of more GA content on the site. I could have powered a small city with my head-shaking when a Cirrus departed 4L on one of the UN days and the assembled masses at T5 called out every type of single *except* a Cirrus. It's more that this article was very poorly-written and didn't actually tell you a lot about the 172 and why it's better (or worse) than other peer aircraft.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil D.
BTW, my very first flight was in a 172 out of Linden. I was 3 weeks old.
The remarks on useful load are very important in terms of general aviation. Even with the FAA "standard" weight of 170 pounds, only a few aircraft can carry people in each seat with a full tanks of fuel. Some of the aircraft that I've come across that generally can carry the people and the fuel: Cessna early 182s, Piper Cherokee 235 (and later the Dakota), Beechcraft V35 and F33 Bonanzas. The most impressive that I have come across is the Aviat Husky - I was told by an instructor "it doesn't matter what you put in it, it will fly". This is a classic phrase by aviators that knowingly and routinely operate aircraft over the maximum gross weight. But with the Husky, it really is true, it can carry to big guys, bags, and full fuel.
There are some aircraft which really have unusable seats, even without full fuel and average people in the seats: the Luscombe Spartan, the Beechcraft Musketeer Sport, and the newer Cessna 206.
The thing to keep in mind is that some aircraft have extra seats for very short hops with all the seats filled, but are primarily designed to carry two people with bags, and an incredible amount of fuel for long distance flights. The Cessna 340, Piper Malibu, and the newest Mooneys are good examples.