Big announcement from Cessna:

Cessna goes Back To The Future with a whole new line of single engine piston aircraft. Cessna CEO Jack Pelton unveiled TWO new Cessna single engine aircraft on the first day of Oshkosh. First was the Cessna Light Sport proof-of-concept aircraft.

Duggy likes it.

The LSA weights 1320lbs, flies 120 knots with a 100hp four stroke Rotax engine. Cabin width is 48 inches, with major construction of aluminum plus composite cowl and wing tips. Cabin doors swing up to enter. It is NOT a Cessna 150 repro.

Cessna is surveying Oshkosh pilots for input on the LSA. It has yet to fly.

Posted 10:36AM OSH local by Dennis Collins - Oshkosh Day 1

 

More about the air race finish and Cessna's new Light sport aircraft later. The LSA announcement was a ruse to draw a crowd. The real news is that Cessna has committed to developing a whole new line of single engine piston aircraft and announced the first aircraft in a surprise fly by.

Update: This is apparently the 5 seat go-fast aircraft rumored for several weeks. Hat-tip to Jim*N*Texas. Cessna will not be showing the aircraft at OSH. The fly-by was all anyone will see. They will announce performance figures later. It was unclear from the fly-by whether it is composite or metal. But the lines hint at composite.

Update2: The announcement of the new Cessna product line was quite dramatic. With the whole crowd concentrating on the LSA aircraft that may never be produced, Jack Pelton announces that Cessna was committed to developing a whole line of single engine piston aircraft that would be price and performance competitive. He then said that the first aircraft had been flying for months, and here it is....

Cheers in the audience.....

Second Flyby .....

As Jim*N*Texas said, very "Cardinal Like" .....

Update3: Looks like the slow-pokes at Aero-news.net finally got the news out. HangarView.com - DailyAviator.com scooped them with news and pictures by at least 30 minutes.

Update4: This is a significant new development in the Aviation community. Half the population thinks that any small airplane with a propeller is a "Cessna". Yet the company hasn't come out with a new design that qualifies as a "Cessna" for decades, preferring to build bigger and bigger jets. Their confidence in the marketplace as evidenced that they will spend millions to certify a new product is promising for the growth of aviation.

Original post at 10:12AM OSH local by Dennis Collins - Oshkosh Day 1

 

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Avweb has some vastly better pictures than mine of the new Cessna single. Definitely composite. It looks like they've got 4 doors on it, for easy entry in the back. Hat tip Jim*N*Texas.

Posted 9:04PM OSH local by Dennis Collins - Oshkosh Day 2