Business & GA

The 8,000th aircraft delivered by Cessna since it restarted single-engine piston production in 1996 has been handed over to the US Civil Air Patrol. The Model 182 Skylane is the 177th Cessna piston-single delivered to CAP since the restart.

A non-profit organisation that performs 90% of continental US inland search and rescue missions, CAP operates 530 aircraft, 519 of which are Cessnas. The latest 182 joins a fleet of 102 glass-cockpit Cessna singles equipped with Garmin's G1000 integrated avionics.

                                                                                                     © Civil Air Patrol

Delivery of the 8,000th single-engined piston produced since the Independence, Kansas plant opened 1996 comes in the same year that Cessna produced its 5,000th Citation business jet, a total which includes 1,000 light CitationJets.

Cessna has added to its piston-powered product line in 2007 with the July launch of the Model 162 Skycatcher light sport aircraft and the December acquistion of Columbia Aircraft and its high-performance, all-composite piston singles, now renamed the Cessna 350 and 400.

In October, Cessna announced it will offer a Thielert turbo-diesel engine in the 172S Skyhawk, with deliveries set to begin in mid-2008.