Cessna Celebrates Caravans 20th

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April marks 20 years since Cessna delivered its first Model 208 Caravan, a workhorse turboprop single popular in bush, utility and cargo operations throughout the world. Some 1500 examples of the “Skylane on steroids” have been delivered since and the company is celebrating with a worldwide demonstration tour featuring well-equipped versions of the airplane. Numerous planned stops throughout the U.S. and Canada during 2005 will be complemented by visits to the Caribbean and Central America in March and April, South America in April and July, Africa in August and September, and Europe beginning in February and lasting through October. Available in four models, Cessna says its Caravan is operating in 68 countries, has flown more than eight million fleet hours, and logs over 70,000 fleet hours per month. At the same time, the Caravan has been the subject of a recent Airworthiness Directive that “results from several accidents/incidents of problems with the affected airplanes during operations in icing conditions, including six accidents in the previous two icing seasons and nine events in the past few months,” according to the FAA. The AD requires operators to incorporate into the Caravan’s FAA-approved Airplane Flight Manual specific revisions published by Cessna.

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