Sport Pilot Talk

I noticed in The Controller that the guy who owns the Skycatcher in which the door flew off is seliing it. That plane is 04B, I fly in 07B. Also, the panel isn't finished as it is in 07B. There's also a picture of the door.


http://www.controller.com/listingsdetai ... 193709.htm?

Wish there was spelling check on Controller ads.

2006 or newer 172? Reliable. boy the Cessna dealer must have seen them coming. Are they adding a BRS chute also.

Photos look like the rivets pulled out of the skins.
A. Is the formed door structure heat treated after forming?
B. Are they using blind rivets that don't have enough formed head diameter
C. How did it blow open twice? Handle gets caught or unlatched. Latch failure?

Noticed that on March 1st, there was a press release that John Doman, VP of Cessna who was with Cessna for 21 years has joined Flight Design...



Hmmm.... Desertion or hedging?

I would not pay too much attention to marketing VPs jumping companies, they do it all the time and carry very little technical knowledge with them. They are largely expendable despite high position in company hierarchy. In some cases, depending on how well their management style meshed with other VPs, CxOs, and their underlings, a departure may be a net positive for a company, but in any case it's not very significant.

Downsized.

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CFIIMEI

Talked with my FBO today about the Skycatcher they have had on order since 2008 (with the 5K deposit). They tell me that they have been put off until 2012 for delivery. First it was 2010, then 2011 now 2012. hmmm.
Glad I don't have $5K invested with them.

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Sport Pilot

Man first Piper stops selling the PiperCruiser (SportCruiser) and now the Cessna 162's delivery is being delayed.

I'm surprise the big dogs are having problems with the LSA market, you'd think it'd be easier to market an LSA than it would to market a GA, Turboprop and Jet aircraft.

TB's report does not deal with marketing, but with production issues.

I looked at the FAA registrations for the Skycatcher today, and other LSAs. When I started training in February, there was only one 162 in CA, the one I was using out of KHMT. There are now 13 in CA. Not bad for six months. I've already seen two others. Great to see them coming into service, finally.

This post may at first sound like thread drift, but I think it relates directly to what we'll be seeing from Cessna on the piston single front, and perhaps specifically the Skycatcher.

Yet another member of the Cessna management team left last week - easily predicted given the new CEO. Change is afoot and the nature of the change was clearly signaled by the choice of the new CEO, Scott Ernest. E.g. read this (local) announcement carefully:

http://www.kansas.com/2011/06/01/187223 ... a-ceo.html

(Note the analyst's comment near the end: ""He didn't shoot for the moon and fall short... He made measured improvements, measured organizational changes that really put GE Aviation in a very good spot." The reporter who wrote this BTW is a highly regarded Wichita journalist who's reported on Cessna for many years. Note the comments about Ernest's previous experience re: 'supply chain' responsibility at GE, aka: outsourcing).

Ernest is a long-time senior manager from GE, and in fact was hired by Textron's CEO, another former GE manager. Their GE tenure was principally during Jack Welch's days, and it's widely known that you only go to GE for management talent when you are looking for a very specific set of qualities: absolute efficiency, each part of an organization has to justify its existance re: cost, quality and profit, and there's no room for 'good ol' boys' who aren't pulling their weight (whether on the production line or front office). By contrast, Cessna is reported to have a cozy, clubby culture with many workers being 3rd generation Cessna employees and there is likely to be a 'not invented here' mindset given that Wichita was - historically at least - the center of the GA a/c manufacturing universe.

Now consider the Skycatcher. No matter how good it might fly or look to us piston single pilots, or how welcome it might be to a Cessna Flight Center's aging Cessna training fleet, the Skycatcher looks like disaster when viewed thru a GE lens. An initially poor design, a much longer than forecast development period, design changes that make it less competitive in its marketplace (re: payload and speed), production delays as work was begun in China, a delayed launch and - perhaps most important for a GE manager - what has to be a very marginal contribution to the bottom line profit of the company. Zoom out a bit from the Skycatcher and consider what the entire piston single line must look like to a GE guy - low production volume, minimal profit when compared to their world class jet product line, a tired group of designs showing little innovation, a costly regulatory environment that inhibits new product development, and at this point Cessna may also have lost a core of its piston single worker talent base.

This is all crystal balling...but whatever the future of Cessna piston single a/c might be, I'm betting that Cessna workforce is going through a lot of painful change right now, and it will continue for some time to come. Very interesting times in Wichita...

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Jack
RAF Florida State Liaison
Please visit www.theraf.org

Here's another review:
https://www.generalaviationnews.com/201 ... rspective/

Some of the points made by Meg seem questionable to me. For example, it may be possible to board C162 the Remos way, which is much, much easier, albeit not obvious. Also, I think she misses a whale by debating electronic W+B. The point is not electronic or not, the point is that doing W+B in cockpit is far too late. How many people, in percents, are going to cancel when they have their wife already loaded? It is much easier to cancel well in advance, which is why we calculate W+B well in advance. This is where G300 does us a disservice.

But overall, I think, it's an interesting review, rather thorough.

-- Pete

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http://zaitcev.mee.nu/

I finally found a 162 within my reach, at KAPA. Thinking about flying up there an getting an hour or two dual.
http://www.flights-inc.com/fleet.asp?ID=N60020

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Would the 162 at Falcon Executive Aviation at KFFZ Mesa, Az be a better flight your you???

http://www.falconaviation.com/

Brian

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Owner of N3081X (Cover Girl) A Beautiful Allegro 2000 as seen on the cover and inside of several magazines!!

Hmm, indeed KFFZ is closer to KABQ, although I am toying with taking N28GX up to Denver, in which case it's the same distance (it's located in KSAF). At $115/hr Falcon Exec's 162 comes out more expensive than $85 at Flights, unless the latter is a dry rate, or they have a huge honking "fuel surcharge". I haven't called them yet.

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