Cessna Manufacturing Tours

Unfortunately I can't show you many photos and videos I took. I had about 100 pics and 5-10 minutes of videos before they told me I couldn't take photos. I don't want to get on their bad side as I will probably be a Cessna person for life.

Thursday through Sunday I joined the Cessna Advanced Aircraft Club for a Wichita fly-in. We also got to tour the Independence facilities. Cessna really wined and dined us, I guess that happens when you buy a $650k Corvalis. Of course it just cost me $50 to join the club of people that buy a $650k Corvalis.

All meals and cocktail parties were paid for by either Cessna or other sponsors like insurance companies, FBO's, dealers, or parts retailers. My only costs were flying up in a T182T, hotel in beautiful Old Town Wichita, and then $100 registration fee.

In Wichita we met many of the top executives including the CEO of Cessna Jack Pelton. Friday we had presentations and leadership panel sessions with sales, engineering, and parts. Pretty cool talking to the actual front line engineers of power plant, electronics, air frame, and etc personally.

Manufacturing lines we toured were the Citation Sovereign, Citation Mustang, high wing pistons, and of course the Corvalis. We also received a tour of the Citation Service Center in Wichita. It is HUGE! Something like 120 Citations can be stored and worked on in this one building!

Our Saturday dinner was at the Kansas Aviation Museum http://www.kansasaviationmuseum.org/. This is at the original Wichita terminal that was built in 1929 and opened in 1934 after a delay because of the Great Depression. Beautiful building and much history as it was a stopover between Los Angeles and New York. Most famous actors and actresses of the time went through this terminal. Cool stories like when Fred Astaire was dared to do a tap routine in the terminal, so he got out his tap shoes and did a 10 minute routine on the marble floor and up the stairs around the banister.

Met some great people in the club, very similar to the Ferrari club, but I would say the average net worth was 3-10x higher. In a way everyone was more personable and relaxed, I think that's mostly because these people are already there while many Ferrari people are still borderline on their way there. I was about the youngest, except for a 2006 400 owner who was the 13th employee at Google and now has an 80 employee tech company. Also enjoyed talking a bunch with former Trans Am racer Donald Sak who owns a 400. We shared racing stories and I told him how I watched all those years he raced and great battles with Said and Gentilozzi.

The weekend confirmed to me without a doubt that the Corvalis is by far the best single engine piston plane out there for sale now. Columbia got so lucky a great company like Cessna bought them out. That adds a ton of stability that other planes out there don't have besides just simply being a better plane.
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This is definitely a Ford, Dodge, GM debate, but still fun. 90% of the market doesn't know much or recognize the Corvalis, but that's because they are ignorant and haven't done their homework and actually flown one. Columbia and then Cessna have always done a crappy job marketing this plane. The Corvalis, Cirrus, and Diamond are modern technology where all the other single pistons out there are 50+ year old technology. Between the "modern" planes the Corvalis blows the Cirrus away except in the marketing department, all you have to do is look at accident rates.

I don't know where you get your stats, but Corvalis tt (direct to Acclaim S)...

Maximum Cruise Speed 235 ktas (435 km/h)
Certified Ceiling 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Airport Performance
Takeoff Distance 1,900 ft (579 m)
Landing Distance 2,600 ft (792 m)
Rate of Climb at Sea Level 1,400 fpm (427 mpm)
Range 1,250 nm (2,315 km)
Ramp Weight 3,600 lb (1,633 kg)
Takeoff Weight 3,600 lb (1,633 kg)
Landing Weight 3,420 lb (1,551 kg)
Zero Fuel Weight 3,300 lb (1,497 kg)
Usable Fuel Capacity 612 lb (278 kg)
Typically-Equipped Empty Weight 2,550 lb (1,157 kg)
Useful Load 1,050 lb (476 kg)
Maximum Payload 750 lb (340 kg)
Full-Fuel Payload 438 lb (199 kg)

http://www.cessna.com/single-engine/cessna-400/cessna-400-weights.html

Remember EVERY Corvalis comes with climate control as part of the above numbers.

Cessna/FAA were close to giving the Corvalis another 200-300 lbs Max Weight without any other changes except recertification. That tells you something about the capabilities, 200-300 over in a Mooney Acclaim isn't the same.

So how much faster is the Acclaim with RG? What are the insurance rates? What are the accident rates? How is the financial stability of Mooney? What is their depreciation?

It isn't my job to educate the 90% out there, I don't care, I did my homework.

FYI, the Mooney Ovation is my 2nd favorite plane well ahead of the Cirrus and close to the Diamond. Only reason I prefer the Corvalis tt over the Corvalis is because it loses 300 lbs max weight. The Cessna engineers this past weekend said that wasn't for any performance reason, they did that because a naturally aspirated engine runs at higher RPM and the extra air flow over the wing takes it beyond noise targets at same max weight of the tt.

Can your Acclaim do this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGD8gOIURa0

 

Sovereign I believe.

 

why should I have to say TT? You are the one that brought up an Acclaim S, if you knew what you were talking about and could compete head on then you would have. You tried to pull a fast one because you knew that's the only way you could compete. You don't compare a turbo to a non-turbo.

I agree! They are great, just not quite as good as the Corvalis.

Same thing with the Columbia, they were unable to get a failure. I had never heard the Mooney never failed either, must be pretty common then. Is the Mooney certified under the Utility category like the Columbia/Corvalis line? I don't think so.

Please call your insurance guy up and get comparitive quotes for 2007 Acclaim S (RG) vs. 2007 Columbia 400.

You mean they developed a special plane to do aerobatics, wow!

Again, I'm not here to enlighten anyone. The Mooney is a great plane and maybe my 2nd favorite, but it is not in the same league as the Corvalis.

Do you think Mooney will be able to make it without another bankruptcy?

 

Tell me all the reasons an Acclaim S is better than a Corvalis tt?

 

LOL, low blow. I guess kit planes are certified utility and 50+ year old manufacturers certify normal. what's a little 1x extra loading.