Why Cessna need to bring back the 206 stationair
Introduction One of the great
automotive success stories of the 1990s was the sport utility vehicle.
Despite occasional criticism for their poor gas mileage, truck-like handling, and questionable
safety record, SUVs remained among the best-selling vehicles well into the twenty-first
century. The car companies spend millions trying to understand exactly why buyers like these
behemoths, although they and everyone else know at least some of the reasons: they carry a lot,
they’re versatile, and their bulk lends a sense of security and invulnerability to the hazards
of routine driving. The same can be said of a certain category of airplane, which is generally
known as the utility segment. These are aeroplanes that can haul anything you can stuff into them,
aren’t fussy about weight and balance, and plod along at speeds in the 140- to 150-knot range.
Near the top of anyone's short list of aircraft SUVs is the Cessna 206, a beefy,
big single with a reputation for reliability and suitability for heavy hauling into and out
of runways that would stop other aeroplanes cold. Through its four decades of existence, the 206 has
remained a popular choice for pilots with large families or businesses that require heavy hauling.
They’re also a favourite for some bush operators and for skydiving operations. Along with every
other single Cessna made, the 206 went out of production in 1986. But shortly after it revived
piston production with the 1997 Skyhawk, Cessna brought back the 206 for the 1998 model year. It
has proven to be a strong seller and is probably the most profitable of any of the Cessna singles.
Exterior
Looking at the Cessna 206, what do we have here? I see a classic beauty, high-wing, single-engine
aircraft design. Its exterior is characterised by its all-metal construction, which gives the
aircraft a rugged and durable appearance. The fuselage is a semi-monocoque design, which
provides a strong and stiff structure while also keeping the weight of the aircraft to a minimum.
The wings of the Cessna 206 are mounted high on the fuselage and feature a constant-chord
design. The wings are straight on the leading edge, with huge flaps on the trailing edge.
The tail section of the Cessna 206 features a horizontal stabiliser with a single vertical
fin and rudder. The landing gear of the Cessna 206 is a tricycle design,
with a nose wheel and two main wheels. The landing gear is built to withstand the rigours
of rough landing strips and bush flying, and is equipped with large, durable tyres. The aircraft
also features a steerable nose wheel, which is obviously better than differential braking.
Interior Looking inside, the Cessna 206 has a spacious
and comfortable interior, designed to accommodate up to six passengers. The cabin is relatively
wide and features large windows, which provide plenty of natural light and good visibility,
except over the nose in landing attitude. The seats are arranged in a club configuration, with
two seats in the front, two seats in the middle, and two seats in the back. The seats are made of
durable materials and are designed to provide good comfort and support during flight.
The cockpit of the Cessna 206 is well-appointed and features a variety of modern avionics,
including GPS and autopilot. The instrument panel is designed for easy navigation and
features a variety of gauges and displays that provide critical flight information to the pilot.
There is ample storage space for luggage and cargo, with a large baggage compartment located
in the rear of the cabin. The baggage compartment is accessible from the inside of the cabin,
which makes it easy to load and unload luggage and cargo. The aircraft also features a number
of cup holders and storage compartments throughout the cabin, which provide additional storage space
for small items. Performance
The Cessna 206 Stationair is typically powered by a 300 hp Lycoming IO-540-AC1A engine, which is a
six-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally-opposed engine Speedy has never been attached to the
206's name. One has to wonder about the name, Stationair. It sounds too much like
Stationary in Air," not a great marketing handle. Flight characteristics and handling
The non-turbo Stationair has a service ceiling of 16,000 feet and, at 6500 feet, cruises at 143
knots at 75 percent power, drinking about 16 GPH. It’s no surprise that the turbo model goes a
little faster. At 20,000 feet, Cessna advertises 164 knots true at 75 percent power. While this
isn’t bad for a draggy, fixed-gear single, it's 20 knots slower than the retractable Saratoga
II TC. The service ceiling is 27,000 feet, where ATC will be less than thrilled to have
you park as the Malibus pass at over 200 knots. The sea-level climb rate is 1050 feet per minute,
although don’t expect that all the way to 27,000 feet. Full power climb is 39 inches at 2500 RPM,
burning 34 GPH. Normal climbing at 30 inches and 2400 RPM lowers the burn to
24 GPH. Once at cruise, burn rates drop to 18 GPH at 75 percent power.
Handling matches the aircraft’s size. Pilots who enter the Stationair after climbing the
Cessna model ladder may find the aircraft is just more of the same—only heavier,
although the ailerons are notably responsive, even at slow speeds. Few owners seem to mind
the fairly heavy controls; snappy handling is not why they bought the aeroplane.
This is not without its benefits, though. It makes the Stationair an excellent IFR
platform—stable and rock-solid. It also makes for a relatively smooth ride in turbulence.
Another benefit is that the Stationair is reluctant to stall. Pitch forces are fairly
heavy to begin with. Compounding this is the generally nose-heavy loading of the aeroplane.
Since the CG envelope is so long, and most everyone wants to sit up front,
the CG is often at or near its forward limit. Also, with power on, the deck angle required
for a wings-level stall is alarming. Put it all together, and the Stationair is not generally a
willing participant in stalls. If you do stall the aeroplane, the behaviour is pure Cessna:
There is a definite break, and it will roll off if the ball is not centred. Recovery requires
lowering the nose by at least relaxing the back pressure. When heavy, especially with full flaps,
it may take some altitude before you can establish a positive rate of climb.
A drawback of the forward CG tendency is a proclivity for inexperienced 206 pilots to arrive
nose first during landing, especially at light weights. It takes a hefty pull on the yoke to
flare properly. Thus, Stationairs are no strangers to hard, nose-first landings that sometimes
damage the aircraft. In the 207, the nose baggage compartment can simply add to the nose heaviness.
However, using less than full flaps for landing (say only 20 degrees)
can ease the control forces required to flare. Also, as one reader aptly put it,
"That is what trim was invented for: Use it." When loaded toward the aft CG limit the equation
changes significantly. It doesn’t take nearly as much effort to flare to land. A pilot who isn’t
ready for the lighter control forces can get surprised at how easy it is to get the nose up.
The 206 can feel like two different airplanes when it is light with a forward CG versus at
gross weight and a mid- to aft-CG loading. We strongly recommend that any checkout in
a 206 include time with the airplane loaded light and forward and heavy and aft. Part of
that should be what it takes to get to the runway when heavy, with full flaps and slow.
Be prepared to put the throttle to the stop. Like most Cessna singles, the 206 does pretty
well in short/soft/rough field operations, a big factor in the purchase decision for many of our
respondents. Early models had 40 degrees of flap, which helped tremendously for short arrivals.
However, the airplane just won’t climb with that much aluminum hanging out in the breeze.
Cessna later limited flap travel to 30 degrees. Speaking of maintenance, simplicity is a good
thing, and helps keep maintenance costs down. But on the other hand, Stationairs are working
airplanes by and large, and wear and tear can easily turn the tide in the other direction. Most
owners have seen problems with the tail, mostly corrosion caused by the foam-filled elevator and
trim tab getting soaked with water and pulling off rivets, screws and nuts—a concern if the
airplane was ever on floats. Some of the brackets in the tail can crack. There have also been some
instances of cracking door posts, though these problems have not proven to be a safety issue.
Cons
Speaking of the negative sides of the 206, despite that the frequency of runway loss of
control accidents was relatively low at 20 percent because the airplane has effective controls and
good manners on the ground. However, a 206 is not easy to land well and changes personality
dramatically with different loadings. With the CG forward, it takes dedication
and determination to get the nose up into landing attitude. Light, the airplane will
float a surprisingly long way if the pilot has tacked on any extra speed on final. That may have
played a role in the five overshot landing events. Loaded and slow, a Stationair can develop a sink
rate approximating a dropped sewer cover. It has the power to recover, but it has to be applied
It has poor visibility over the nose in landing attitude.
Stalls accounted for only five accidents, and they were on short final or shortly after takeoff.
One was from a slush-covered runway from which the pilot managed to pry the overloaded 206
but then stalled it trying to avoid obstacles. 206’s are routinely overloaded—sometimes to an
eye-watering degree—but it won’t carry everything you can shove in the doors.
One stall-after-takeoff crash involved an airplane that was some 800 pounds over gross.
Variants If you are
in the market for a 206, it is available in several different variants, each of which is
designed for a specific purpose or application. Some of the most notable variants include:
Cessna 206 Stationair: which is the standard model of the Cessna 206,
and is the most widely produced variant of the aircraft. It is a six-seat, high-wing,
single-engine aircraft that is commonly used for personal and business travel, as well as for air
taxi and bush flying operations. The Cessna T206 Turbo Stationair is another great option. Powered
by a turbocharged engine, which provides increased performance and higher altitude capabilities.
It is ideal for pilots and operators who need to fly at higher altitudes or in hot and high
conditions. The Cessna U206 Super Skywagon is a utility focused variant that is commonly used for
aerial photography, wildlife survey, and skydiving operations. It features a reinforced fuselage and
landing gear, which allows it to operate from rough landing strips and unimproved surfaces.
The Cessna TU206 Turbo Skywagon, well as the name implies is the U206 with a turbocharged
engine. Then there is the Cessna P206 Super Skylane: which is an upgraded version of
the Cessna 206 Stationair, which features improved performance and avionics. It is
designed for personal and business travel, and is powered by a more powerful engine.
CONCLUSION The 206 Cessna succeeded
in catering to pilots who simply need more out of a piston single. More room, more useful load,
more seats, more fuel. And it doesn’t just work for private operators. Part 135 companies might
be drawn to it as a small freighter that is rugged, economical and can get in and out
of remote airstrips while carrying a big payload. Designing such an airplane is a challenge because
optimizing for speed hurts payload; a large comfortable cabin may mean stodgy performance and
no baggage capability. Rumor has it that trying to find an optimum compromise between speed,
payload, range and comfort has driven more than one aeronautical engineer around the bend.
Many airplanes that have been advertised as "do it all" machines just aren’t.
But the poster-child exception is an airplane such as the Cessna 206,
which carries the SUV/minivan/pickup concept to a capable conclusion.