6,000th Single Engine Piston Since 1996, 1,500th Caravan Out The Door

Cessna Aircraft Company announced last week the storied manufacturer has met several major milestones in its single engine division this year, according to company Chairman, President and CEO Jack Pelton. With more than 165,000 single engine piston airplanes manufactured throughout its 78-year history, Cessna can lay claim to the largest fleet of such aircraft in the world.

"As of this year, we delivered our 6,000th single engine aircraft since the return to single-engine production in 1996... In the turboprop sector, we celebrated delivery of the 1,500th Caravan," Pelton said.

The 6,000th single engine piston plane, a 172S Skyhawk NAV III equipped with the Garmin G1000 (above), went to Anson Air's Dana Atkinson, president of the Cessna Pilot Center based in Sugar Land, Texas.

The 1,500th Caravan (below) will go to a company in Poland's ferroalloys industry, according to a company release.

According to Cessna, the workhorse Caravan is in service in more than 60 countries. In the 20 years since Federal Express received the first Caravan model, the fleet has averaged more than 70,000 hours per month, exceeding more than 8 million flight hours overall.

While the company anticipates continued success from its current models, the company is not ignoring the future. As was previously reported in Aero-News, the company is studying the feasibility of a next-generation single engine plane.

"We have been conducting market studies and assessing new technologies to ensure our next generation piston family is responsive to market requirements and provides significant improvements in safety, performance, comfort and economics," said Pelton. "We are currently in the process of listening to what our stakeholders have to say about our possible designs."

"We are proud to see these new chapters added to the 78-year history of Cessna's single engine airplanes, and we see an exciting future for Cessna in this sector," he said.

FMI: www.cessna.com