How do you rate the Cessna 162 Skycatcher????

jafra98

Well-Known Member
Had the opportunity to fly one yesterday and It was a blast. The performance is superior to a 150/152, stalls are very docile and slow flight is a joke but for some reason I was landing to the right of the centerline( I know that's not the airplane fault)............
 
I personally do not think its a great trainer aircraft. The Garmin PFD for primary students (especially younger ones) is a huge distraction and I would prefer to have them in less visually appealing steam guages. My left arm got super strong holding up my ipad over the display while doing steep turns to get them to look out the window. The stalls were docile but I got way more of a wing drop every time out of the 162 than any 152/172 I have flown. The landings are VERY squirrelly for a student pilot, forget about any crosswind training for a while. The combination of a short wheelbase, and somewhat touchy differential braking for directional control... its no wonder our local flying club had 3 C162s and yanked the third one after two licensed pilots balled the other two up on landing, one of them sliding into a running helicopter. Everyones ok but that plane does not bode well for student/amateur pilots.

I personally enjoyed flying it on my checkout/familiarization flight. It just has its own place outside of the training environment.
 
I haven't flown the 162 but I've seen them in person and the Remos GX seems superior in every way. Actually, the 152 seems superior in every way except for the clime rate.
 
The performance is good, but there's no way I can see that thing lasting 10,000+ hours and still asking for more like our C150's do.
 
I currently train both sport and private pilots in a 162. So far it has been a good small airplane. Takeoffs and landings require more work then most people are used to, especially with a crosswind. You have to fly the little guy all the way to the ground, but it is not impossible by any stretch. My experience is that it is not good or bad, just different it's not a 150 or 152. Makes landing a 172 seem too easy sometimes.
 
Another thing that I noticed was that the little plane takes forever to slowdown.......:eek2:
 
I haven't heard great things about it, there's one at my local airport. One of the instructors says that they are known for having door issues because of its design or something to that nature
 
I think the 162 is the crappiest of LSA's I've flown. Both in flying quality and construction.

Yeah I did about an hour flight in the right seat and compared to the other LSAs I've flown, I was not impressed. That thing rattled like a mother .


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I haven't heard great things about it, there's one at my local airport. One of the instructors says that they are known for having door issues because of its design or something to that nature

Yeah it requires two latches to be closed properly, usually the front one forgets to get latched, and the leading edge of the door catches the wind in flight and rips the door right off its top mount hinges. Had it happen on my old flight school's 162. Out for 3 weeks getting repaired.
 
Yeah it requires two latches to be closed properly, usually the front one forgets to get latched, and the leading edge of the door catches the wind in flight and rips the door right off its top mount hinges. Had it happen on my old flight school's 162. Out for 3 weeks getting repaired.

Wow that's really ridiculous.
 
Yeah it requires two latches to be closed properly, usually the front one forgets to get latched, and the leading edge of the door catches the wind in flight and rips the door right off its top mount hinges. Had it happen on my old flight school's 162. Out for 3 weeks getting repaired.

If my performance with the two latches on a Piper is any indication, I'd be on my fifth or sixth door about now.
 
I enjoyed flying it, but hated teaching in it. Way too touchy on the controls, the G-Whatever-Hundred was a bitch to teach around, and the clientele usually exacerbated those two characteristics.

I did always appreciate the view when the door blew open though.
 
If my performance with the two latches on a Piper is any indication, I'd be on my fifth or sixth door about now.

Ah that top latch on pipers is optional compared to the skycatcher. I had an examiner that would always leave the top latch on the Seminole unlatched because it had "better airflow" for him. Last I heard he wasnt an examiner anymore haha
 
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