|
|||||||||||
| Cessna's Big Day at AOPA Expo | back to top |  |
||
Cessna to Offer Diesel Skyhawk
The engine is a two-liter adaptation of a Daimler automotive diesel that's been re-engineered for aviation use. It's a dual overhead cam, in-line four-cylinder engine that puts out 155 hp. It comes with full authority digital engine control and is turbocharged. The liquid-cooled engine drives a three-bladed, composite constant speed prop. The new designation of the aircraft is the Skyhawk TD. A Cessna news release did not contain pricing information.
Related Content:
Cessna Commits to Bend
Pelton said he first approached Columbia about buying the company at Sun 'n Fun in 2006 but it wasn't until the Oregon company was on the brink of bankruptcy that he could sign a letter of intent. There are other bidders for the assets but Cessna has to be considered the odds-on favorite. |
Cessna will offer the 172S Skyhawk with a Thielert turbo diesel engine with deliveries to start in mid-2008. In an announcement at AOPA Expo in Hartford, Conn., Cessna officials said the decision to
offer the diesel came after extensive market surveys and flight testing. "The Skyhawk is already the best-selling, most-flown airplane ever with more than 43,000 delivered and this option further
expands the market due to the worldwide availability of Jet A fuel," said John Doman, Cessna vice president of propeller aircraft sales. Cessna will install the engines at its Independence, Kan.,
factory under the supplementary type certificate already held by Thielert.
The people of Bend, Ore. are likely sighing relief today after Cessna CEO Jack Pelton said the Columbia Aircraft plant will be maintained and there will also be "significant" investment in the company
if Cessna is the successful bidder for Columbia's assets. "It will stay in Bend, Ore.," Pelton told a crowded news conference at AOPA Expo in Hartford on Thursday. "That's where the workforce is."
Pelton also said Cessna's booming facilities in Kansas are at capacity and there's no room to accommodate Columbia production. Pelton said the intention is to continue production of the existing
Columbia line and to ramp up production to 250 airplanes a year. He also hinted the Columbia plant will be involved with future production of the Next Generation Piston line of aircraft but he did not
elaborate.
|
|||||||||||
| Record Attendance and "Megatrends" | back to top | |
||
Hartford Packs 'Em In
VLJs? Thanks, But We Prefer Citabrias
"'Simpler' I might buy, but not 'easier," he said. "In addition to flying the airplane, you are operating all the systems. It isn't easy." Robins said he had no problem getting insurance -- though it is expensive -- but advised low-time pilots against making too big of a leap into the turbine environment. Get comfortable with instrument flying and complex aircraft first, he suggested, and work your way up. In the end, all parties agreed with the assessment of Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn, speaking on video: The VLJ is a "slayer of distance and a creator of time -- the ultimate magic carpet." |
This is the first time AOPA Expo has been held in Hartford, and AOPA President Phil Boyer admitted on Thursday morning that there was some concern whether the faithful would flock to this remote
corner of the world. "The leaves here aren't like we showed you in all the pictures," he said -- trees remain robustly green and temperatures a summerlike mid-80s, not the crisp New England autumn
that many expect to find in October. But he said the attendance numbers on Thursday morning were the highest for any East Coast AOPA Expo ever.
AOPA Expo opened on Thursday morning with a thousand pilots or so attending a general session on the "megatrend" of owner-flown turbines, introduced by AOPA President Phil Boyer and hosted by AOPA
Pilot Editor-in-chief Tom Haines. The crowd listened politely as Cessna CEO Jack Pelton and Matt Huff, of Williams engines, talked up the wonders and virtues of the coming owner-flown turbine fleet.
But the one time the audience erupted in spontaneous applause? When Jim Robins, a businessman who "operates" a TBM700 to get to his homes and facilities around the country, mentioned the pure joy of
"flying" his vintage Citabria in the early morning amid the Santa Fe mountains. Robins also raised some eyebrows in the crowd when he veered from the industry refrain that turbine aircraft are
"easier" to fly than pistons.
|
|||||||||||
| More New Aircraft Headed to Market | back to top | |
||
Piper's New Matrix: A Deflated Mirage
Bass says the Matrix will compete directly with four-place products from Mooney, Columbia and Cirrus, offering six-place capability and greater range. If you think there's no demand for a $757,000 non-pressurized single, Piper has an answer: it already has 100 firm orders.
Related Content:
Diamond Rolls Out Two New DA40-Based Models
The XLS has a WAAS-capable Garmin G1000, a wider and higher canopy for better visibility and cabin comfort and improved engine monitoring. The DA40 CS might be thought of as an a la carte version of the Star. Its base price is a more affordable $259,000 and customers can then customize it with additional options including interior upgrades, a Garmin GFC 700 autopilot and an extended luggage bin.
The CS is primarily aimed at flight schools but can be an affordable option for individual owners, says Larson.
Related Content: |
Does the world really need an unpressurized Piper Mirage? Piper thinks it does and at the AOPA Expo show in Hartford this week, it announced the new Matrix which, although technically a new type
certificate, is really a variant of the well-established Malibu/Mirage series. Piper CEO Jim Bass told AVweb this week that it believes the Matrix will find a sweet spot in the market because it will
sell for an equipped price of $757,000, more that $300,000 less that the price of a new Mirage. Because the airplane lacks a pressure hull, it's less expensive to manufacture and has an empty weight
of around 150 pounds less than the Mirage. Bass says this will offer owners high cruise speeds and payloads well into the teens and if an owner wants to venture to the airplane's certificated
25,000-foot ceiling, the Matrix will have an onboard oxygen system.
It's axiomatic that to survive in the business of general aviation, a manufacturer has to constantly roll out new models or, at the very least, improved versions of the standing product line. Diamond
has done both and at this week's AOPA Expo in Hartford, it announced two new variants of the DA40, the XLS and CS. Diamond's Heike Larson told us this week that the XLS is a bit more than a tarted up
DA40 with nicer upholstery, although it does have that.
|
|||||||||||
| News Briefs | back to top | |
||
Mooney Acclaim Type S: "Unquestionably the Fastest"
Priced at $599,500, deliveries of the Type S are scheduled to commence early next year. "The Type S has benefited from a series of refinements that, by themselves, wouldn't appear to be significant, but taken together, have notably increased performance," Copeland said. He also announced the launch of Mooney Mania, a three-month program offering incentives to current owners who bring in new buyers, plus financing breaks and trade-in assistance. Copeland also said he welcomes the expected takeover of Columbia by Cessna. "That's a positive development," he said. He added that Cessna would be a "worthy adversary" in the high-performance single niche, and he expects they would "correct the misconceptions in Columbia's advertising." He also announced that a devoted Mooney owner will be at the booth here at AOPA Expo on Friday afternoon with his own tattoo artist, to tattoo the Mooney logo over his heart -- "displaying the kind of Mooney passion that all of our owners share." Temporary tattoos, he added, will be available for those who "have to go home and face your spouse."
Aspen Avionics Expands Facility, Adds New Staff
The company also announced two new hires. Constantinos S. (Gus) Kyriakos is now Vice President of Engineering. In this position, he will manage and lead Aspen's growing engineering staff, and work closely with the company's external engineering partners. Mark Ferrari joins the company as Vice President of Sales and Customer Support. He will be responsible for worldwide sales activities and will build customer-care programs to support Aspen's dealer network and aircraft operator customers. |
After a year or two of back-and-forth with 
|
||||||||||
| Photos from the Expo | back to top | |
||
|
||||||||||
| Exclusive, Original Video: Cessna's Turbo Diesel | back to top | |
||
AOPA Expo 2007 Exclusive Video #3: Cessna's Turbo Diesel Skyhawk
Original, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos
Cessna will offer the 172S Skyhawk with a Thielert turbo diesel engine with deliveries to start in mid-2008. AVweb's Glenn Pew and Paul Bertorelli went straight to the horse's mouth for more info on the diesel Skyhawk, talking with Cessna engineers at the AOPA Expo 2007.
(More on the Cessna Skyhawk Turbo Diesel.)
|
|
||||||||||
| AVweb's Audio News — Are You Listening? | back to top | |
||
AVweb's AOPA Expo 2007 Podcast #1: Piper's New Matrix — A Deflated MirageFile Size 9.3 MB / Running Time 10:10
Podcast Index | How to Listen | Subscribe Via RSS
Back in the 1970s, Cessna introduced an unpressurized version of its popular 340 called the 335. It turned out to be a lukewarm seller. Now, Piper has its own run at offering a non-pressurized high flyer, a new model it calls the Matrix and one that's based on the six-place Mirage. Piper CEO Jim Bass explained the details to AVWeb's Paul Bertorelli.
AVweb's AOPA Expo 2007 Podcast #2: Diamond Rolls Out Two New DA40-Based ModelsFile Size 7.3 MB / Running Time 7:58
Podcast Index | How to Listen | Subscribe Via RSS
Diamond Aircraft is a company known for innovation. It was the first major manufacturer to offer aerodiesels, and it introduced the first new twin in two decades, the DA42 TwinStar. This week at AOPA Expo, Diamond's Heike Larson gave AVweb's Paul Bertorelli the details on two more new models, both variants of the DA40 Star.
|
|
||||||||||
| Help Us Make the News | back to top | |
||
AVweb's Newstips Address ...
AVwebBiz: AVweb's Business Aviation Newsletter
|
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something that 130,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news
tips via email to 
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP yet for AVweb's NO-COST weekly business aviation newsletter, AVwebBiz? Reporting on breaking news,
Business AVflash focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the business aviation industry. Business AVflash is a must read. Sign up today at
|
||||||||||
| Names Behind the News | back to top | |
||
Meet the AVwebFlash TeamAVwebFlash is a weekly summary of the latest news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.
The AVwebFlash team is:
Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.)
Comments or questions about the news should be sent here.
Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team.
If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebFlash. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here.
Aviate. Navigate. Communicate. |
