The Cessna Aircraft Company is an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing corporation
headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Best known for small, piston-powered aircraft, Cessna
also produces business jets. The company is a subsidiary of the U.S. conglomerate Textron.
In March 2014 Cessna became a brand of Textron Aviation.
History June 1911: Clyde Cessna, a farmer in Rago,
Kansas, built and flew his own aircraft, the first person to do so between the Mississippi
River and the Rocky Mountains. Cessna started his wood-and-fabric aircraft ventures in Enid,
Oklahoma, testing many of his early planes on the salt flats. When bankers in Enid refused
to lend him more money to build his planes, he moved to Wichita.
1927: Cessna Aircraft was formed when Clyde Cessna and Victor Roos became partners in
the Cessna-Roos Aircraft Company. Roos resigned just one month into the partnership selling
back his interest to Cessna. In the same year, the Kansas Secretary of State approved dropping
Roos's name from the company name. 29 October 1929: The Cessna DC-6 earned certification,
same day as the stock market crash of 1929. 1932: Cessna Aircraft Company closed its doors
due to the Great Depression. 1934, Dwane Wallace, with the help of his
brother Dwight, took control of the company and reopened it and began the process of building
it into what would become a global success. 1933: Cessna CR-3 custom racer took its first
flight. The plane won the 1933 American Air Race in Chicago and later set a new world
speed record for engines smaller than 500 cubic inches by averaging 237 mph.
1937: The Cessna C-37 was introduced as Cessna's first seaplane when equipped with Edo floats.
1940: The U.S. Army gave Cessna their largest order to date, when they signed a contract
for 33 specially equipped Cessna T-50s. Later this same year, the Royal Canadian Air Force
placed an additional order for 180 T-50s. 1946: Cessna returned to commercial production
after the revocation of wartime production restrictions with the release of the Model
120 and Model 140. The approach was to introduce a new line of all-metal aircraft that used
production tools, dies and jigs rather than the hand-built process used older tube-and-fabric
construction. 1948: The Model 140 was named by the US Flight
Instructors Association, as the "Outstanding Plane of the Year".
1955: Cessna's first helicopter, the Cessna CH-1, received FAA type certification.
1956: Cessna introduced the Cessna 172 which went on to become the most produced airplane
in history. 1960: Cessna affiliated itself with Reims
Aviation of Reims, France. 1963 saw Cessna produce its 50,000th airplane, a Cessna 172.
1969: Cessna's first business jet, the Cessna Citation I performed its maiden flight on
15 September. 1975: Cessna produced its 100,000th single
engine airplane. 1985: Cessna became a wholly owned subsidiary
of General Dynamic Corporation. Production of the Cessna Caravan began.
1992: General Dynamics announced the sale of Cessna to Textron Inc.
27 November 2007: Textron announced that Cessna had purchased the bankrupt Columbia Aircraft
company for US$26.4M and would continue production of the Columbia 350 and 400 as the Cessna
350 and Cessna 400 at the Columbia factory in Bend, Oregon.
Chinese production controversy On 27 November 2007 Cessna announced the new
Cessna 162 would be made in the People's Republic of China by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation,
which is a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry Corporation I, a Chinese government-owned
consortium of aircraft manufacturers. By manufacturing the aircraft in China, Cessna reports it saved
USD$71,000 in production costs per aircraft, or about 40% of the cost. A second reason
cited for moving production to Shenyang Aircraft Corporation was Cessna had no plant capacity
available in the USA at the time. Cessna received a high degree of negative
feedback from 162 customers and potential customers regarding this decision. Complaints
centered on the recent problems with Chinese production of other consumer products, China's
human rights record, exporting of jobs, and China's less than friendly political relationship
with the USA. The backlash surprised Cessna and resulted in a company public relations
campaign to try to explain the decision from a business perspective and assure customers
that quality of the aircraft will not be compromised. The reaction to the explanations and assurances
has been overwhelmingly negative, although a small number of customers have applauded
the production in China. In early 2009 the company attracted further
criticism for continuing plans to build the 162 in China while laying off large numbers
of workers in the USA. 2008–10 economic crisis
The company's business suffered notably during the Late-2000s recession, laying off more
than half its workforce between January 2009 and September 2010.
On 4 November 2008 Cessna's parent company, Textron, indicated that Citation production
would be reduced from the original 2009 target of 535 "due to continued softening in the
global economic environment" and that this would result in an undetermined number of
lay-offs at Cessna. On 8 November 2008, at the AOPA Expo, CEO
Jack Pelton indicated that Cessna sales of aircraft to individual buyers had fallen but
piston and turboprop sales to business had not. "While the economic slowdown has created
a difficult business environment, we are encouraged by brisk activity from new and existing propeller
fleet operators placing almost 200 orders for 2009 production aircraft," Pelton stated.
On 13 November 2008, Cessna announced that a total of 665 jobs would be cut at its Wichita
and Bend, Oregon plants starting in January 2009. The Cessna factory at Independence,
Kansas, which builds the Cessna piston-engined aircraft and the Cessna Mustang, was not forecast
to see any layoffs, but one third of the workforce at the former Columbia Aircraft facility in
Bend was laid off. This included 165 of the 460 employees who built the Cessna 350 and
400. The remaining 500 jobs were eliminated at the main Cessna Wichita plant.
In January 2009 the company announced 2,000 additional layoffs, bringing the total to
4,600. The job cuts included 120 at the Bend, Oregon facility reducing the plant that built
the Cessna 350 and 400 to fewer than half the number of workers that it had when Cessna
bought it. Other cuts included 200 at the Independence, Kansas plant that builds the
single-engined Cessnas and the Mustang, reducing that facility to 1,300 workers.
On 29 April 2009 the company announced that it was suspending the Citation Columbus program
and closing the Bend, Oregon facility. The Columbus program was finally cancelled in
early July 2009. The company said "Upon additional analysis of the business jet market related
to this product offering, we decided to formally cancel further development of the Citation
Columbus". With the 350 and 400 production moving to Kansas, the company indicated that
it would lay off 1,600 more workers, including the remaining 150 employees at the Bend plant
and up to 700 workers from the Columbus program. In early June 2009 Cessna announced that it
would lay off an additional 700 salaried employees, bringing the total number of lay-offs to 7600
or more than half the company's workers. In December 2009 the company announced that
it will close its three Columbus, Georgia manufacturing facilities between June 2010
and December 2011. The closures will include the new 100,000-square-foot facility that
was opened in August 2008 at a cost of US$25M, plus the McCauley Propeller Systems plant.
These closures will result in total job losses of 600 in Georgia. Some of the work will be
relocated to Cessna's Independence, Kansas or Mexican facilities.
Cessna's parent company Textron posted a loss of US$8M in the first quarter of 2010, largely
driven by continuing low sales at Cessna, which were down 44%. Cessna's workforce remained
50% laid-off and CEO Jack Pelton stated that he expected the recovery to be long and slow.
In September 2010 Cessna CEO Jack Pelton announced a further 700 layoffs, bringing the total
to 8,000 jobs lost. Pelton indicated this round of layoffs was due to a "stalled [and]
lackluster economy" and noted that while the number of orders cancelled for jets has been
decreasing new orders have not met expectations. Pelton added "our strategy is to defend and
protect our current markets while investing in products and services to secure our future,
but we can do this only if we succeed in restructuring our processes and reducing our costs."
2010s On 2 May 2011 CEO Jack Pelton retired. The
new CEO, Scott A. Ernest, started on 31 May 2011. Ernest joined Textron after 29 years
at GE, where he had most recently served as vice president and general manager, global
supply chain for GE Aviation. Ernest previously worked for Textron CEO Scott Donnelly when
both worked at GE. In September 2011 the Federal Aviation Administration
proposed a US$2.4M fine against the company for its failure to follow quality assurance
requirements while producing fiberglass components at its plant in Chihuahua, Mexico. Excess
humidity meant that the parts did not cure correctly and quality assurance did not detect
the problems. The failure to follow procedures resulted in the delamination in flight of
a 7 ft section of one Cessna 400's wing skin from the spar while the aircraft was being
flown by an FAA test pilot. The aircraft was landed safely. The FAA also discovered 82
other aircraft parts that had been incorrectly made and not detected by the company's quality
assurance. The investigation resulted in an emergency airworthiness directive that affected
13 Cessna 400s. On 23 March 2012 Cessna announced that it
is pursuing building business jets in China as part of a joint venture with Aviation Industry
Corporation of China. The company stated that it intends to eventually build all aircraft
models in China, saying "The agreements together pave the way for a range of business jets,
utility single-engine turboprops and single-engine piston aircraft to be manufactured and certified
in China." In late April 2012 the company recalled laid-off
workers and started new hiring to fill 150 positions in Wichita as a result of anticipated
increased demand for aircraft production. Marketing initiatives
During the 1950s and 1960s Cessna's marketing department followed the lead of Detroit automakers
and came up with many unique marketing terms in an effort to differentiate its product
line from their competitions'. Other manufacturers and the aviation press
widely ridiculed and spoofed many of the marketing terms, but Cessna built and sold more aircraft
than any other manufacturer during the boom years of the 1960s and 1970s.
Company terminology
Cessna marketing terminology includes: Para-Lift Flaps – these were the large Fowler
flaps Cessna introduced on the 170B in 1952, replacing the narrow chord plain flaps then
in use. Land-O-Matic – In 1956, Cessna introduced
sprung-steel tricycle landing gear on the 172. The marketing department chose “Land-O-Matic”
to imply that these aircraft were much easier to land and take off than the preceding conventional
landing gear equipped Cessna 170. They even went as far as to say pilots could do “drive-up
take-offs and drive-in landings”, implying that flying these aircraft was as easy as
driving a car. In later years some Cessna models had their steel sprung landing gear
replaced with steel tube gear legs. The 206 retains the original spring steel landing
gear today. Omni-Vision – This referred to the rear
windows on some Cessna singles, starting with the 182 and 210 in 1962, the 172 in 1963 and
the 150 in 1964. The term was intended to make the pilot feel visibility was improved
on the notably poor-visibility Cessna line. The introduction of the rear window caused
in most models a loss of cruise speed due to the extra drag, while not adding any useful
visibility. Cushioned power – This was to announce the
introduction of rubber mounts on the cowling of the 1967 model 150, in addition to the
rubber mounts isolating the engine from the cabin.
Omni-Flash – This referred to the flashing beacon on the tip of the fin that could be
seen all around. Open-View – This referred to the removal
of the top section of the control wheel in 1967 models. These had been rectangular, they
now became “ram’s horn” shaped, thus not blocking the instrument panel as much.
Quick-Scan – Cessna introduced a new instrument panel layout in the 1960s and this buzzword
was to indicate Cessna’s panels were ahead of the competition.
Nav-O-Matic – This was the name of the Cessna autopilot system, which implied the system
was relatively simple. Camber-Lift – This marketing name was used
to describe Cessna aircraft wings starting in 1972 when the aerodynamics designers at
Cessna added a slightly drooped leading edge to the standard NACA 2412 airfoil used on
most of the light aircraft fleet. Writer Joe Christy described the name as "stupid" and
added "Is there any other kind [of lift]?" Stabila-Tip – Cessna started commonly using
wingtip fuel tanks, carefully shaped for aerodynamic effect rather than being tubular-shaped. Tip
tanks do have an advantage of reducing free surface effect of fuel affecting the balance
of the aircraft in rolling manoeuvres. Aircraft models
Currently Cessna has the following models in production:
Cessna 172 – high-wing, single piston-engined, four-seat aircraft in production since the
1950s. More Cessna 172s have been built than any other aircraft.
Cessna 182 – high-wing, single piston-engined, four-seat aircraft in production since 1996
Cessna 206 – high-wing, single piston-engined, six-seat utility aircraft in production since
1962. Cessna 208 – high-wing turboprop utility
aircraft in production since 1984. Cessna 400 – a turbocharged variant of the
Cessna 350, in production since 2004 Cessna 510 – twin-engined very light business
jet produced since 2005. Cessna 525 – twin-engined light business
jet produced since 1991. Cessna 560XL – twin-engined small-to-medium
business jet produced since 1996. Cessna 680 – twin-engined mid-sized business
jet produced since 2004. Cessna 750 – twin-engined long-range medium
business jet aircraft produced since 1996 Gallery
References
External links Company website
PilotFriend.com – Cessna company history and aircraft types details
"Patents owned by Cessna Aircraft Company". US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved 5
December 2005.