In total, we’ve owned three Cessnas over the years. A Cessna 150, 172 Hawk XP, and a 205. While I remember flying in the 150, I believe we sold it before I got to fly it very much. The 172 and the 205, well, I wish I still had them. Both were great airplanes and I have many fond memories from both.
For example, not long after my oldest daughter Savannah was born (she’s now 20) my wife and I flew with her and another couple and their daughter to Roche Harbor in the San Juan Islands. After landing, the Moms decided it best to change the girls’ diapers. I suggested the horizontal stabilizer as a changing table. As luck would have it, that platform was a perfect ergonomic height to accomplish the task. Bonus: It’s a fun memory for me.
I have no doubt readers of this will be able to take a very short walk down memory lane to find similar fond memories.
In all, Cessna has produced more than 75,000 172s, 182s, and 206s. While Textron isn’t cranking out the numbers like days of old, the design is classic. For some pilots, that’s not good enough. And yet for others, that familiar strut-braced high wing design defines what flying is.
It is no secret that Textron pours the majority of its resources into the turbine and turboprop line-up. But filling the pipeline of future Cessna pilots is important as well. And that pipeline gets filled from the piston line.
Thankfully the nation’s ramps are filled with high wing Cessnas of all stripes — and will be for decades to come.
“oldest daughter Savannah was born (she’s now 20) my wife and I flew with her and another couple and their daughter”
Hope that was in the 205 and not the 172, thought I noted it didn’t say for sure.
Right you are Mark. All six of us in the 205, not the 172. Good catch.
No love for the best single of them all, the 210? Nearly 10k copies made.
A new Cessna 172 is over $400k. It cruises at 115ktas, useful load of 950 lbs and a range of 400mi.
Compare to a Cirrus SR20 with a price of $390k. It cruises at 155ktas, useful load of 900 lbs, a range of 800nm. And comes with an all airframe parachute.
Nothing better than flying around the state of Maine on a fire patrol in a Cessna 150. There were days that driving a car would have been faster but that’s ok because a C150 is a blast to fly.