I've been following this topic on another forum dedicated to the Cessna 337 and recently read about a development that I think many of you would be interested in. Cessna is in the process of issuing something called Special Inspection Documents (SID) on the Skymaster. SIDs require extensive and expensive inspections. They will almost certainly be required for commercially operated aircraft, but the jury is still out on whether they will be mandatory for airplanes operated under Part 91.

Cessna has already issued SIDs for some of its heavier twins, such as the 402. The cost of compliance seems to run about 25% of the airframe value. So the cost of complying with the SID could be many tens of thousands of dollars. Now the disturbing part, in meetings between Cessna and a Skymaster owner's group, the company said the Skymaster SID will become a model for SIDs against all high wing, strutted Cessnas. Since this category makes up the bulk of backcountry aircraft, I though you folks would be interested.

While Cessna is cloaking this in "safety of flight" rhetoric, the fact is most high wing Cessna singles (and Skymasters for that matter) are lightly used in comparison to a 402 freighter with 25,000 hours of flying through thunderstorms over gross. There's simply no comparison to a 180 or 182 built in '56 but with less than 3,000 hours total time. Could it be that Cessna isn't moving enough of those $500,000 182s and is trying to rid the marketplace of affordable alternatives? Some of you Cessna guys who belong to the CPA might want to check this out.

Best,
O-2

OscarDeuce wrote:
Could it be that Cessna isn't moving enough of those $500,000 182s and is trying to rid the marketplace of affordable alternatives? Some of you Cessna guys who belong to the CPA might want to check this out.

Best,
O-2

And/or increase there parts business??

That's for the heads up!

O2
Fill me in on what you are reading and where I can find out what this is.
I own 1/2 of a turbo 337 and we are just about to dump 70K into a couple of engines to keep up with the 135 rules.
Would hate to do that and then have a pile of money just setting on the ramp.
Thanks GT

M6RV6 wrote:O2
Fill me in on what you are reading and where I can find out what this is.
I own 1/2 of a turbo 337 and we are just about to dump 70K into a couple of engines to keep up with the 135 rules.
Would hate to do that and then have a pile of money just setting on the ramp.
Thanks GT

M6RV6:

Go look here http://www.337skymaster.com/ quite a bit of information.

Best Regards,
O-2