![\"\"](\"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Cessna172-CatalinaTakeOff.jpg\" "\\"Cessna172-CatalinaTakeOff\\"")
<\/a>The Cessna 172<\/p><\/div>\n
During the latter time of the 170\u2019s production run, a couple of engineers and mechanics were goofing off and slapped a nose wheel on one of the 170s.\u00a0 They joked around and called it the \u201c171\u201d because it looked funny.\u00a0 The landing gear was long and the tail of the airplane stuck up in the air really high.\u00a0 With the round tail of the Cessna 170, somehow the airplane just did not look right.\u00a0 As bad as the airplane looked, the engineers, mechanics, and pilots discovered something about this \u201cCessna 171.\u201d<\/p>\n
It flew extremely well and easily.\u00a0 A short time later, the Cessna 171 acquired a square tail, shorter gear legs, and a new designation\u2014the Cessna 172.\u00a0 After the introduction of the 172 in 1956, sales took off.\u00a0 Before midyear, sales of the popular tricycle geared airplane completely out paced sales of the 170.\u00a0 By the middle of summer, Cessna decided to permanently kill the 170 line.<\/p>\n
<\/a>1957 Cessna 172 with "square tail"<\/p><\/div>\n
What Cessna achieved with the 172 is phenomenal.\u00a0 The 172 is one of the safest and easiest airplanes ever offered to the public.\u00a0 Indeed, Cessna promoted the airplane as being so safe, \u201canyone could fly.\u201d Over the 56 years making up the life of the airplane, the statistics bear out the truth of the 172 being the safest ever.<\/p>\n
There are a couple of things which make the airplane so safe.\u00a0 First, it is extremely easy to fly.\u00a0 Secondly, it flies slowly on the low end of its performance envelope.\u00a0 Third, the airplane is extremely strong with maneuvering speeds actually designed to be faster than the aircraft\u2019s normal cruising speed.\u00a0 Essentially, a pilot has to work really hard to get hurt in the Cessna 172.<\/p>\n
Since 1956, Cessna has produced over 43,000 units of the 172.\u00a0 When the airplane came out, approximate cost per unit was $8700.\u00a0 Today, a 2010 Cessna 172S costs more than $300,000.\u00a0 Much of the expense of the S-model is attributable to the advanced avionics and all glass panels of the Garmin G-1000 units installed in the airplanes.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Cessna 172M panel<\/p><\/div>\n
Regardless of how the airplane is equipped, the 172 has always delivered sound performance and safety for the buck.\u00a0 For your operational dollar, you could find no safer an airplane than the 172.\u00a0 Additionally, she\u2019s a somewhat comfortable old airplane in which to enjoy an afternoon cross country.<\/p>\n
-30-<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday\u2019s blog was about the Cessna 170.\u00a0 Today\u2019s blog deals with the 170\u2019s younger sibling, the Cessna 172.\u00a0 The Cessna 172 literally was born almost right after the 170.\u00a0 There were a couple of Cessna 171s, but they were of … Continue reading