The new 172's coming in...

Was that the 162 Skycatcher? Cessna is supposed to begin delivery next year.

I think the skycatcher is the LSA that Cessna is making...they also had a high performance, high wing, composite plane that did a fly by at Oshkosh.

Here's a picture

cessna "skycatcher" = c142.... light sport

i dont know whats pictured above but it looks rather cool.

The skycatcher is actually a C162

I remember reading in Flying magazine about that plane thats pictured. They called it the NEXT generation proof of concept and is supposedly supposed to replace the 172 and 182 someday. That was some time ago and havent heard or read much since so they they might have abondoned the project since the aquisition of columbia.

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I might have came into this a little late but its about damn time that UND got some airplanes that actually require you do something with the rudder. :nana2:

=Jason-

*cough* super deca *cough*

Huh? We do 102 training in the Decathlon?

THAT's when it matters most. People develop bad habits early in training.

edit: It's too bad not everyone will get to start training in the Cessna except the Air Chinas.

huh? i was just saying that we do in fact have a plane that requires rudder use.

Eh I have over 250 hours in a deca and cita, its not that required lol. And those really don't count. The majority of people won't fly that besides spin training.

=Jason-

:yeahthat: That was my point. We don't really use them outside spin training and aerobatics.

ooh gotcha. i thought the initial argument was we dont have a plane *at all* that requires rudder use.

i think everyone should have a little light aerobatics training, you really learn a TON about how planes fly and behave. takes the mystery out of it. i enjoy it!

We saw one of your new Skyhawks in Brookings just a couple of days ago, They look pretty nice.

they ARE nice. so is a Chevy Cavalier when it rolls off the lot....

:crazy:

Yeah, just wait a few months. They are already showing wear from where the fuelers have to jump up and down to get to the tanks. It won't be long and you'll see rips in the leather seats, scuffs all over the windscreen, fingerprints covering the G1000s, paint scratches on the fuselage, and everything else that goes along with having a training fleet that gets used and abused probably about 5 times on the average day, and the contract students haven't got the chance to get their hands on them yet! You can bet that once that happens, things will start to go downhill in a hurry.

I worked at a flight school that had 172's and they were used quite a few times a day. I think they must have been at least 2-3 years old and they still looked great.

i wouldn't blame the contracts. the cirrus we had were extremely nice when brand new, even last year this time when they had only 7-800 hours on them. now they have closer to 2000 and they look like ####. the instructor side of the plane is in nice shape, but the student side is destroyed, and the wings are scratched to hell. they look like a 20 year old training a/c.

problem is people don't think of a rental airplane as their own. i always view it as "if i treat it nice, it will get me home"

I wouldn't blame the contract students. I think they respect the use of the aircraft more than a lot of domestic students. Blanket statement over many schools that have contract students. At least that's what I've noticed with China, Japan and Korean students...

From a maintenance perspective, some of the things on those planes are pretty surprising. For example, the door hinges and the stop springs that hold the doors in the open position are still a 40+ year old design that breaks every few hundred hours. Is it really that hard to come up with a new design for those things? I guess so. Oh, and just wait until the fuel qty senders start to go. You will turn it on and have to shake the wings to make the red "X" go away on the G1000.

when I say wait until the contract students get a hold of them, I'm not saying that the contract students abuse the aircraft more than the undergrads do. It's just the shear number and frequency of their flights that will compound the wear and tear on the 172s. If you get the chance to look at the AIMS dispatch schedule for any given day, you'd be surprised at the percentage of "foreign" names (wang, pao, jing, ping, pong and the list goes on) versus more "domestic" names. Those guys fly almost every day and sometimes 2-3 times a day compared to the regular undergrad schedule of 3 slots a week.

yeah, they are over 40% of our flying.