Cessna is showing its 350 and 400 composites models at Farnborough – though the aircraft may look familiar to show visitors.
That’s because the designs were acquired by Cessna last December in the bankruptcy auction of Columbia Aircraft. The deal saw Cessna take over Columbia’s manufacturing site in Bend, Oregon, and they will be on sale in Europe once they have been certified.
“We are expecting concurrent EASA certification for both models, certainly by the end of the year,” says Doug Oliver, Cessna director of corporate communication. “We are taking orders from around the globe but we are not in a position to talk about numbers right now.”
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Cessna is talking about prices, however - $565,000 purchases the piston-engined 350 and $620,000 buys a turboprop 400. Both models feature the all-glass Garmin G1000 avionics suite with the GFC 700 flight control system in all Cessna’s single-engine models.
The airframes, including the control surfaces, are constructed entirely of fibreglass and carbon fibre, with the landing gear and engine mount being the only primary structures made of steel. “We are using composites on other aircraft but we have not specifically used Bend to produce composites for other aircraft,” says Oliver.
Powered a 310hp Teledyne Continental TCM IO-550N, the Cessna 350 has a certified ceiling of 5,486m and a maximum cruise speed of 354kmh. The Cessna 400’s twin-turbo, intercooled TCM TSIO-550C enables it to reach a maximum cruise speed of 435kmh and to cruise at up to 7,620m using a built-in oxygen system.
Both are certified under the Utility Category under FAR Part 23, Amendment 46.
Source: Flight International
