Cessna Evolution

If the Centurion represented the pinnacle of single-engine achievement for Cessna, the Cardinal represents the company coming up against the future and a marketplace of customers that was changing slower than its designs were. As you might know, Cessna envisioned the Cardinal, a four-seat, high-cantilever-winged, stabilator-equipped, fixed-gear (the retractable version came later) personal airplane, as […]

One of at least four planes that evolved from the 182, the 206 has, like the 185, become a stalwart of backcountry flying. With its big rear-loading doors, large useful load and respectable cross-country performance, the 206 can serve as a capacious personal transportation airplane with a backcountry attitude or backcountry air taxi with an […]

During the late ’50s and early ’60s, Cessna was dominant in the market for light and medium performance singles with its 172, 182 and 150 models, but it was also dipping its toe in the high-performance market, which it had previously straddled with its fixed-gear big-engine taildragger, the 195, which it called the Businessliner. Its […]

The 182 is a beefier version of the 172, true, but by adding power and strength, Cessna took a product pretty good at most everything and created a step-up plane that was remarkably satisfying in just about every way. It is fast enough, it hauls a good load, it’s roomy, and it’s rugged enough for […]

It’s hard to believe that the nosewheel version of the Cessna 140 could become anything other than a forgettable staple of aviation’s past, but despite its small size and cozy seating, the 150 is not only one of the most-produced planes in history, it’s also one of the most important. While today the 172 is […]

That next big thing was the 172, which Cessna brought to market in 1956. The 172 wasn’t as big a deal as the 170 in terms of concept—it really was a 170 with a nose gear, at least at first—but the impact of that nose gear, which made landing a plane not only easier but […]

As far as the 185 is concerned, all that’s true for the 180 is true and then some for the light and rugged 185, which was one of Cessna’s longest-produced aircraft, getting its start in 1961 and continuing to be built until 1985. The 185 is powered by Continental six-cylinder engines, the 470 early on […]

Today, the 170 is almost a niche plane, but this 140 for four was perfectly sized for the mass market Cessna was looking to command. A little more powerful, faster and by definition roomier, the all-metal opposed engine-powered 170 was a quiet revolution, one that would take Piper more than a decade to counter, when […]

If the 172 (wait for it) was the epitome of modernizing a good product to make it a blockbuster, the upgrade of the 170 into the 180 is the ruggedizing of an existing product for a segment of the market that flies harder and hauls more. The 180 first flew in 1952 and was produced […]

After the war, Cessna designers correctly believed that a new, more modern consumer would demand new, more modern aircraft, and they did. To fulfill this need, Cessna created a new breed of airplane that still had one gear leg firmly stuck in the pre-war era. The 195 was a departure from the Airmaster in many […]