Interesting. This market must be viable. Who's buying them? FedEx?

http://cessna.txtav.com/en/turboprop/skycourier

How do you put big tires, floats or skis on it like a Twin Otter? That is a HUGE part of the market. Gravel ops in places all over the world. Looks like a city cruiser to me.

Yes, FedEx. They helped Cessna design it to their needs, and have apparently committed to buying a lot of them over the next several years.

Big tires? Just toss an Airglas fork on that mofo and hit the gravel bars!

I think avweb said FedEx ordered 50 initially with the option for 50 more

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There's lots of work for island hoppers almost over the world. Twin Otters are popular for that. They're back in production, final assembly happens here in Calgary. They had an early rush, but sales seems to have tapered off. It will be interesting to compare specs between the Cessna and the Viking Twin Otter.

The FedEx order alone is not going to cover the cost of developing this airplane.

G44 wrote:The FedEx order alone is not going to cover the cost of developing this airplane.

They're probably banking on a successful field run being high profile when it goes into service. Other customers will say "I guess it does work, I'll take 5."

But of course the question is, as posed earlier in this thread: what about big tires?

That is surprising.
I would have assumed the upfront costs of a brand new plane are too high for such a specific niche design to be worth the risk.
Aviation has a long history of new designs failing when the big order is pulled.

Strut braced wing.

Looks like that could be a kick ass jump plane .

Twin Otter in its natural environment. Inuvik, NWT. Note the Basler converted DC-3 in the background. Cool stuff.

Off topic: there's now an all season road to Canada's Arctic Ocean Shore through Inuvik. Just opened this Fall.

I’ll bet that Cessna has done a little market research on this.

And, these are all the same arguments we heard “a few years ago”, when Cessna announced another new design: the Caravan. Which has been mildly successful.

Back then, nearly everyone in Alaska said they’d never work. Funny thing about that.
When Wright Air bought their first new Caravan, nearly every operator in that part of the world said they’d go broke in a couple years. “Can’t make a million dollar airplane pay its way” was the hue and cry.

A couple years later, Wright’s bought a second new one. Last I heard, they have eight or nine. Funny how that works.

MTV

Hoping all those fed ex caravans will start to come on the used marked and drop the price .

Pinecone wrote:Twin Otter in its natural environment. Inuvik, NWT. Note the Basler converted DC-3 in the background. Cool stuff.

Off topic: there's now an all season road to Canada's Arctic Ocean Shore through Inuvik. Just opened this Fall.

Both bad ass planes. Love those converted -3s.

Air travel in Asia (India, China, indonesia, etc) is booming and like Pinecone said there is a big need for island hoppers. It's good to hear that Otters are back in production.

Cool. Wonder who they'll get to fly them?

I think I read that Cessna is shooting for a $5M price tag on their new twin caravan.
What's a new Twin Otter go for?

colopilot wrote:Big tires? Just toss an Airglas fork on that mofo and hit the gravel bars!

3300' gravel bars...

1:1 Scale wrote:

colopilot wrote:Big tires? Just toss an Airglas fork on that mofo and hit the gravel bars!

3300' gravel bars...

Yeah, I saw that too. Doesn't sound like much competition for the Otter.

About every village in Alaska has 3800' or so of pretty good runway these days. That plane will be a marvelous workhouse for rural Alaska.

Not as fast as the 1900s flying around but those planes are getting old. And those wings and props are HIGH above the rocks, keep those de-ice boots from taking a beating.