Bathman wrote:
I find it hard to believe Cessna can’t bring a sma powered 182 to market. The engine has full EASA approval and there is an STC for it to be fitted to the 182 airframe. Sounds like a couple of months work not a couple of years and then no end product.
IMHO they probably came to the conclusion that it would be more of a liability than asset .
The EPS has made a lot of people excited over at the Aerostar forum. One of the contributors is an investor.
In my experience they are they least likely to know what is going on.
I find it hard to believe Cessna can’t bring a sma powered 182 to market. The engine has full EASA approval and there is an STC for it to be fitted to the 182 airframe. Sounds like a couple of months work not a couple of years and then no end product.
They made a crucial mistake in not getting the FAA approval piggybacked onto the EASA approval but seeking a standalone approval. The FAA has zero experience with diesels and in general has a much more conservative approach to new certification than EASA. That has bitten Cessna, suddenly they are faced with a whole list of new requirements.
I’d agree that FAA requirements for a non-STC factory installed product are likely to be more conservative, and I’d guess that was exactly the reason Cessna decided to try doing it the hard way and not piggy back on the EASA STC. The first time a problem occurred in service that could even remotely be traced to ‘short cutting’ FAA certification some lawyer would have a case again them.
Was high altitude restart the certification issue? I understood that was Maule’s problem years ago with the SMA.
The initial SMA 305 could not be restarted officially above FL100. The new variant was improved.
Cessna has dropped the diesel Skyhawk.
Is this the end of diesel GA in the USA, except for Diamond?
Peter wrote:
s this the end of diesel GA in the USA, except for Diamond?
Saw that also. I suspect it is the end for diesel in the US, at least for quite some time. Not too surprising, there isn’t really much reason to buy one here: 100LL available everywhere, no price advantage. Add to that that the current administration probably isn’t going to ban LL fuels, the incentives dwindle….
Peter wrote:
Is this the end of diesel GA in the USA, except for Diamond?And Piper. The Archer DX is still there, and the Seminole will be available is diesel.
Certainly a lot of opinions and generalizations, but they are just that.
My club has 2x Tecnam P2008’s and 2x ancient C152’s. All are used for ab initio training and the hours are evenly divided, along with the pilot preferences. So different strokes for different folks.
We also have 4x C172’s. They are about 4 years old, were purchased new, and all have G1000 panels. They are used for charter and IFR training. The club is just finishing conversion of all of them to diesel. There are several reasons for that here: much lower noise level, better performance especially at takeoff and above 3’000, and simpler and essentially idiot-proof engine operation. That last point is attractive to both pilots and the club pocket-book. They do have lower useful load than before but also lower consumption and greater range, which turns out to be a bit of a wash.
achimha wrote:
They didn’t sell a single one last year, so much about the size of that market you’re referring to…
That’s a bit misleading. If they have an order book for 50-70 as indicated in the article then they’ve “sold” quite a few. If Cessna can’t deliver them because they can’t get them certified, which seems to be the problem, then that can’t be blamed on lack of demand.
