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Steals Hotel Toilet Paper
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to take a flight in Cessna's much maligned Skycatcher today.
At first glance I was a bit surprised by the Spartan interior. Pretty much everything has been removed to save weight. There is no interior, it's just bare metal painted black. You can see rudder and elevator cables running down the sides of the fuselage. There is nothing but a mesh net that separates the baggage area from the tailcone.
When I climbed in, I was surprised by the seating position. It's a lot different from from the 172. In the 172 it feels like you're flying a barstool. In the Skycatcher you're sitting slightly reclined with your feet straight out in front of you. The cabin feels very spacious - I was told it's wider than a 206. There was tons of shoulder and head room. The seats are not adjustable. Think of them as a futon mattress on a metal frame. The rudder pedals adjust to the length of your legs.
The plane has a free castering nosewheel, which pilots either love or hate. The strangest thing is the "Control Stick" device for controlling the ailerons and rudders. It feels like the side yoke in a Cirrus, but it doesn't pivot with the wrist. It's designed to move like a traditional stick - forward, backward, left, and right. This takes some getting used to. I kept trying to bank by flicking my wrist over and it kept on not working.
The Skycatcher took off quickly and climbed at an impressive rate - over 1000 FPM at max gross. With no interior finish panels to absorb the sound of the O-200D engine, climbout was loud. The teeny tiny cowl provided fantastic visibility. At 2600 RPM we were cruising at 115 KTAS. I then put it through some yanking, banking, and stalls. It's more responsive than bigger Cessnas, and the stalls were pretty docile. I was still trying to get used to the control stick.
The G300 MFD is pretty impressive, especially when compared to the offerings from other LSAs. It has the option of XM radio and weather, which will get you TAFs, AIRMETs, and other things right there on the MFD. The Skycatcher's only navigation device is the GPS. It has a cute little VNAV feature that allows you to specify what altitude you want to be at when you arrive at a certain point and then gives you a glideslope.
I did some landings with a 10 knot crosswind and the Skycatcher performed well. With the plane being so light it does get tossed around quite a bit on final, so some big corrections were necessary to keep the blue side up and the green side down. Another consequence of the light weight is that it likes to float.
I then flew it back home at about 1000 AGL and had some fun chasing deer around fields and such. Maybe it's just because for once I was just poking holes in the sky instead of flying to accomplish something, but flying the Skycatcher is the most fun I've had flying in quite a while.
My post-flight thoughts are that Cessna has a winner here. Yes, it has a horrible useful load. Yes, some people hate the fact that it's built in China. But the fact of the matter is that the Skycatcher is fun to fly. It's easy to handle and is clearly aimed at the weekend warrior owner pilot. The feature that most sets it apart from the competition is the G300 panel. It couldn't possibly make things any easier for a private pilot to poke holes in the sky. The seats aren't very comfortable, but then again you can't really carry enough gas to go anywhere.
If Cessna could produce a version of the 162 with an extra 150 pounds of useful load and was certified for IFR, they would create an absolutely fantastic trainer. Unfortunately, that would probably push the price to ridiculously high levels and won't happen.
At first glance I was a bit surprised by the Spartan interior. Pretty much everything has been removed to save weight. There is no interior, it's just bare metal painted black. You can see rudder and elevator cables running down the sides of the fuselage. There is nothing but a mesh net that separates the baggage area from the tailcone.
When I climbed in, I was surprised by the seating position. It's a lot different from from the 172. In the 172 it feels like you're flying a barstool. In the Skycatcher you're sitting slightly reclined with your feet straight out in front of you. The cabin feels very spacious - I was told it's wider than a 206. There was tons of shoulder and head room. The seats are not adjustable. Think of them as a futon mattress on a metal frame. The rudder pedals adjust to the length of your legs.
The plane has a free castering nosewheel, which pilots either love or hate. The strangest thing is the "Control Stick" device for controlling the ailerons and rudders. It feels like the side yoke in a Cirrus, but it doesn't pivot with the wrist. It's designed to move like a traditional stick - forward, backward, left, and right. This takes some getting used to. I kept trying to bank by flicking my wrist over and it kept on not working.
The Skycatcher took off quickly and climbed at an impressive rate - over 1000 FPM at max gross. With no interior finish panels to absorb the sound of the O-200D engine, climbout was loud. The teeny tiny cowl provided fantastic visibility. At 2600 RPM we were cruising at 115 KTAS. I then put it through some yanking, banking, and stalls. It's more responsive than bigger Cessnas, and the stalls were pretty docile. I was still trying to get used to the control stick.
The G300 MFD is pretty impressive, especially when compared to the offerings from other LSAs. It has the option of XM radio and weather, which will get you TAFs, AIRMETs, and other things right there on the MFD. The Skycatcher's only navigation device is the GPS. It has a cute little VNAV feature that allows you to specify what altitude you want to be at when you arrive at a certain point and then gives you a glideslope.
I did some landings with a 10 knot crosswind and the Skycatcher performed well. With the plane being so light it does get tossed around quite a bit on final, so some big corrections were necessary to keep the blue side up and the green side down. Another consequence of the light weight is that it likes to float.
I then flew it back home at about 1000 AGL and had some fun chasing deer around fields and such. Maybe it's just because for once I was just poking holes in the sky instead of flying to accomplish something, but flying the Skycatcher is the most fun I've had flying in quite a while.
My post-flight thoughts are that Cessna has a winner here. Yes, it has a horrible useful load. Yes, some people hate the fact that it's built in China. But the fact of the matter is that the Skycatcher is fun to fly. It's easy to handle and is clearly aimed at the weekend warrior owner pilot. The feature that most sets it apart from the competition is the G300 panel. It couldn't possibly make things any easier for a private pilot to poke holes in the sky. The seats aren't very comfortable, but then again you can't really carry enough gas to go anywhere.
If Cessna could produce a version of the 162 with an extra 150 pounds of useful load and was certified for IFR, they would create an absolutely fantastic trainer. Unfortunately, that would probably push the price to ridiculously high levels and won't happen.
