For 31 years, the O-470 Continental six-cylinder engine was particularly well-suited to the 182 airframe. It was just big enough to satisfy a 172 driver’s lust without requiring a huge cowling, could econo-cruise at 9-10 gph if desired and had no fuel-injection maintenance and starting issues. It’s this happy marriage of engine and airframe that makes the mid-1960s to late 1970s Skylanes the most sought-after airplanes in the used-aircraft market.
After shutting down piston-plane production in 1986 over the triple threats of product liability exposure, slow sales and excess used-plane inventory, Cessna began building Skylanes again in 1997 but recertified with a 230-hp version of the Lycoming O-540 engine. Therefore, one divides Skylanes into 1956-1986 Continental-powered airplanes and the 1997 and onward Lycoming-engined “restart” models, with the latter series further sub-divided by the glass-panel Skylanes introduced in 2006.
