The Cessna 208 Caravan is an American single-engined turboprop, fixed-tricycle landing gear, short-haul regional airliner and utility aircraft that is built by Cessna. The airplane typically seats nine passengers with a single pilot, although with a FAR Part 23 waiver it can seat up to fourteen passengers. The aircraft is also used for cargo operations.
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Design
The Cessna 208 is a high-wing braced cabin monoplane powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprop in tractor configuration. It has a fixed tricycle landing gear but can also be fitted with floats or skis. The cabin has room for nine passengers and two crew when used as a passenger aircraft with four doors: one for each crew member, an airstair door on the right side of the cabin and a cargo door on the left. The aircraft can be optionally fitted with an underslung cargo pod.
The basic 208 airframe can be outfitted with various types of landing gear, allowing it to operate in a wide variety of environments. Some common adaptations include floats with retractable landing gear on the Caravan Amphibian model and skis.
The Caravan interior can be outfitted with seats or as a cargo compartment. The standard high-density airline configuration has four rows of 1-2 seating behind the two seats in the cockpit. This variant is capable of holding up to thirteen passengers, although it is marketed as being able to make a profit carrying just four. The cabin can be configured in a low density passenger configuration, with 1-1 seating, as a combination of passengers and cargo, or as a strictly cargo aircraft. Many variants include an underbelly cargo pod, which can be used for additional freight capacity, or for passenger baggage. A number of Caravans are operated as skydiving aircraft with the left-side cargo hatch converted to a roll-up door.
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Development
The prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October 1984. A freighter variant without cabin windows was developed at the request of Federal Express as the Cargomaster. Another cargo variant for Federal Express, with a longer fuselage and a cargo pod under the belly, was developed as the 208B Super Cargomaster and flew for the first time in 1986. A passenger model, the 208B Grand Caravan, was derived from the Super Cargomaster. Since then, the Caravan has undergone a number of design evolutions, including upgrading the avionics in 2008 to provide a glass cockpit with the Garmin G1000 system. In January 2013 a higher-powered (867 shp from P&WC PT6A-140) version, the Grand Caravan EX, received FAA certification.
In August 2016, Textron announced that it would move the Cessna 208 production line from its Wichita headquarters to its Independence, Kansas production facility, for manufacture alongside along the piston-powered 172S Skyhawk, 182T Skylane, T206H Turbo Stationair and Cessna TTx; and the Citation M2 light jet. The move was made to make room for production of the Citation Longitude and Denali in Wichita.
Chinese production
In May 2012 Cessna announced that an assembly line for the 208 would be established in China, with the government-owned China Aviation Industry General Aircraft (CAIGA) conducting final assembly of Caravans at its plant in Shijiazhuang for the Chinese market. Chinese government approval was granted in September the following year and the first Chinese assembled Caravan was delivered in December 2013. By April 2016 about 30 aircraft, assembled from kits of parts shipped from the US by Cessna, had been delivered to Chinese operators by the joint venture.
Variants
Civilian
After-market variants
Production aircraft modified after delivery by Supplemental Type Certificates:
Military
Operators
Civil operators
The Cessna 208 is used by governmental organizations and by a large number of companies for police, air ambulance, passenger transport, air charter, freight and parachuting operations. FedEx Express operates 239 aircraft.
Military operators
A total of 134 Cessna 208s were in military service in 2016.
Accidents
As of 31 December 2017 there had been 216 Caravan hull-losses from all causes, including 206 accidents causing 427 fatalities - an average of 2 fatalities per hull-loss, with 29.7% of all occupants surviving fatal accidents; and six hijackings causing one fatality. For the 198 out of the 216 hull-loss occurrences where the aircraft was in use and its flight nature is known, 36.9% were passenger flights, 33.8% cargo flights, 8.1% military flights, 5.6% special flights - agriculture, survey, etc., 4% private and business flights, 3% test or flight training and 8.1% miscellaneous uses - demonstrations, deliveries, illegal.
Specifications (208 Caravan)
Data from Cessna Textron
General characteristics
- Crew: one or two
- Capacity: nine passengers or 13 with FAR Part 23 waiver
- Length: 37 ft 7 in (11.46 m)
- Wingspan: 52 ft 1 in (15.88 m)
- Height: 14 ft 11 in (4.55 m)
- Wing area: 279 sq ft (25.9 m2)
- Aspect ratio: 9.702
- Airfoil: wing root: NACA 23017.424, wing tip: NACA 23012
- Empty weight: 4,730 lb (2,145 kg)
- Gross weight: 8,000 lb (3,629 kg)
Maximum landing weight : 7,800 lb (3,538 kg) - Fuel capacity: 2,224 lb (1,009 kg/332 gal/1,257 l)
- Cabin height: 54 in (1.37 m)
- Cabin width: 64 in (1.63 m)
- Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114A turboprop, 675 shp (503 kW)
- Propellers: 3-bladed McCauley Constant speed, full feathering, reversible pitch
Performance
- Cruise speed: 214 mph; 186 kn (344 km/h) true air speed
- Stall speed: 70 mph; 61 kn (113 km/h) calibrated air speed
- Range: 1,232 mi; 1,070 nmi (1,982 km)
- Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,600 m)
- Rate of climb: 1,234 ft/min (6.27 m/s)
- Wing loading: 28.674 lb/sq ft (140.00 kg/m2)
Avionics
- Garmin G1000 with GFC700 integrated digital automatic flight control system
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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