Re The plane so good it's still in production after 60 years

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Lawrence Andrew <llandrew1952 () gmail com>
> Date: March 8, 2017 at 1:43:09 PM EST
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] The plane so good it's still in production after 60 years
>
> The 172 (& later the 182) was the workhorse for the skydiving industry for a lot of years.  Most of the dropzones I 
> frequented had a 172 or 182 on site.  Even those with bigger planes usually had a 172 or 182 available for slow days.
> They were great little planes for jumping.
>
> > On Mar 5, 2017 12:07 PM, "Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> > I loved that plane. I flew about 150 hours. I was a flew the Deb and others djf
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> > > Date: March 5, 2017 at 9:33:44 AM EST
> > > To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> > > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The plane so good it's still in production after 60 years
> > > Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
> > >
> > > The plane so good it’s still in production after 60 years
> > > In 1956, Cessna started building the 172 training plane - and more than 60 years on, it’s still in production. Why 
> > > has it been so popular?
> > > By Stephen Dowling
> > > Mar 3 2017
> > > <http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170302-the-plane-so-good-its-still-in-production-after-60-years>
> > >
> > > It can seat four people, in a squeeze, and weighs a little under 800kg without fuel or its passengers. It has a 
> > > maximum speed of 140mph (226km/h), though you could push this up to 185mph at a pinch – but the manufacturer would 
> > > rather you didn’t. And on a tank full of fuel, you could travel 800 miles (1,290km) – the equivalent of going from 
> > > Berlin to Belfast, or New York to Madison, Wisconsin.
> > >
> > > You might think this was a high-performance car with a little more-than-average leg room – but it’s a plane. The 
> > > Cessna 172, which first rolled off the production line in 1956, is still in production today. And if any design 
> > > could claim to be the world’s favourite aircraft, it’s the 172.
> > >
> > > More than 43,000 Cessna 172s have been made so far. And while the 172 (also known as the Skyhawk) has undergone a 
> > > myriad of tweaks and improvements over the past 60-odd years, the aircraft essentially looks much the same as it 
> > > did when it was first built in the 1950s.
> > >
> > > In the past 60 years, Cessna 172s have become a staple of flight training schools across the world. Generations of 
> > > pilots have taken their first, faltering flights in a Cessna 172, and for good reason – it’s a plane deliberately 
> > > designed to be easy to fly, and to survive less-than-accomplished landings.
> > >
> > > “More pilots over the years have earned their wings in a 172 than any other aircraft in the world,” says Doug May, 
> > > the vice-president of piston aircraft at Cessna’s parent company, Textron Aviation.
> > >
> > > “The forgiving nature of the aircraft really does suit it to the training environment,” he says.
> > >
> > > Light aircraft might not be updated as often as cars, but 60 years is still a very long time to produce a vehicle 
> > > that has essentially been unchanged. The only time its production ceased for an extended time was in the late 
> > > 1980s, when stricter US laws restricted the manufacture of all light aircraft. What is it about the 172 that has 
> > > made it such a favourite for so long?
> > >
> > > One answer comes from the fact that the Cessna 172 is a high-wing monoplane – meaning the wings sit high above the 
> > > cockpit. This is very useful for student pilots because it gives them a better view of the ground and makes the 
> > > aircraft much easier to land.
> > >
> > > The 172 was based on an earlier Cessna design called the 150. This looked very similar apart from the fact it was a 
> > > “taildragger” – instead of a wheel at the front, the 150 had a smaller wheel at the back, underneath the tailfin 
> > > (like most aircraft before the arrival of jets). The 150 enjoyed the benefits of a light aircraft boom in the years 
> > > following World War Two, as many of the companies that had produced tens of thousands of military aircraft now 
> > > turned their attention to civilian aircraft.
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>
> >
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