{"id":1331,"date":"2010-12-10T14:44:03","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T19:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2018-01-12T11:02:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T15:02:04","slug":"what-makes-a-cessna-172-so-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=1331","title":{"rendered":"What Makes a Cessna 172 So Safe?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Cessna 172<\/p><\/div>\n

OK, so I was checking out the stats on the blog and I came across this search term. Someone had actually asked the question of Google or Bing or Yahoo, \u201cWhat makes a Cessna 172 so safe?\u201d<\/p>\n

What a great question!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the answer (at least my explanation and opinion).<\/p>\n

First, the people at Cessna put together great products across their single-engine line. When it comes to the 100-series Cessnas, I believe there are no safer airplanes on the market, new, used, or otherwise.<\/p>\n

The first reason Cessna airplanes are so safe is the basic design of the airplane. Clyde Cessna built beefy airplanes. Later, after Clyde was gone, the beefy-airplane tradition continued.<\/p>\n

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Cessna 150<\/p><\/div>\n

For instance, one important distinction of the 1986 Cessna 172P (my favorite year and model of the 172) is the maneuvering speed. If you take the aircraft\u2019s Vgn diagram, you will find maneuvering speed at gross weight is 99 KIAS. Four hundred pounds lighter, maneuvering speed drops to 92 knots and then at 1600 pounds, maneuvering speed is 82 knots.<\/p>\n

These speeds almost fall within the normal cruise capabilities of the aircraft. Another way to look at this: to bend the airplane and break it, you have to work really hard<\/em>. If you have intentions to over-g the airplane, you actually dive the airplane to get to a speed with which you can damage it. Don’t get me wrong, it can be broken, just not so easily.<\/p>\n

Another reason the 172 is so safe is its ability to fly slow. The reason the 1986 P-model is my favorite is this low stalling speed.\u00a0 At a gross weight of 2400 pounds, the flaps-up stall speed is 44 knots; with the flaps full down, stall speed is only 33 knots. At lower weights, the airplane will stall even slower.<\/p>\n

Why is this so important? In the event of an engine failure, a pilot can land the aircraft in minimal space. \u00a0If needed, a pilot could even fly the airplane into a solid structure and walk away from it at such a low speed. This is particularly true for the pilot who can land with a 15 to 20-knot headwind component. With that kind of a wind and a stall speed of 33 knots, groundspeed at touchdown will be phenomenally slow at 13\u00a0knots with a 20-knot wind and 18 knots with a lighter 15-knot wind.<\/p>\n

Seriously, anyone can fly a 172 into a brick wall at 13 knots and walk away from it.<\/p>\n

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Cessna 210<\/p><\/div>\n

This one reason alone is why I am such a big fan of the single-engine Cessna 100 series.\u00a0 Even their largest recip, the Cessna 210 Centurion is a great airplane in this manner.\u00a0 The Centurion is heavy for a single-engine airplane and is capable of cruising at 185 knots.\u00a0 With a generous wing area and high-lift flaps, pilots can land the 210 at 55.<\/p>\n

Yeah, rest assured I am a Cessna-man, through and through.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, so I was checking out the stats on the blog and I came across this search term. Someone had actually asked the question of Google or Bing or Yahoo, \u201cWhat makes a Cessna 172 so safe?\u201d What a great … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,6,8,9],"tags":[329,813,822,830,839,904,1279,1468,1729,1950,2314,3337,3530,4242],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-aviation-history","category-flight-instructing","category-flying-2","category-life-in-general","category-personal","tag-airplanes","tag-cessna","tag-cessna-172p","tag-cessna-210-centurion","tag-cessnas","tag-clyde-cessna","tag-engine-failures","tag-flying","tag-gross-weight","tag-inexperienced-pilots","tag-maneuvering-speed","tag-stall-speed","tag-the-100-series-cessnas","tag-what-makes-a-cessna-172-so-safe"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5687,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/5687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}