Cessna Model 208 Caravan

1982

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  UTILITY MONOPLANEVirtual Aircraft Museum / USA / Cessna  

Model 208A Caravan I

Designed to replace extensive fleets of ageing utility aircraft still in wide service throughout the world such as the DH Canada Beaver, Otter and Cessna 180, 185 and 206 types, the Model 208 was conceived in 1980/81 as the first all-new turboprop powered general aviation aircraft. The prototype Cessna 208 Caravan I flew for the first on 9 December 1982, and the first production aircraft rolled out in August 1984. FAA certification followed in October 1984 and the type is now in service with military air arms in Brazil, Liberia, Thailand and with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as amphibians.

The higher gross weight Model 208A, ordered in December 1983 by the US small parcel airline Federal Express and called Cargomaster by them, is fitted with more comprehensive all-weather avionics and an underfuselage pannier, but has the fuselage windows deleted.

Following experience with the 208A, Federal Express ordered the Model 208B Super Cargomaster with the fuselage stretched by four feet, also built without windows and equipped with a pannier. Flight testing began on 3 March 1986, followed by certification and first delivery to Federal Express, who have ordered 210, in October the same year. By the end of 1989 more than 370 variants of the Model 208 had been delivered.

In 1985 Cessna released details of a quasi-military/special mission version of the Caravan I designated U-27A by the US Department of Defense and marketed as the Low Intensity Conflict Aircraft (LICA). Equipped with six hardpoints under the wing plus another on the fuselage centreline able to carry either a General Dynamics F-16 reconnaissance pod, or a cargo pannier, the LICA also has a electrically operated 'roll up' cargo door with slipstream deflector, openable in flight, and bubble windows for downward surveillance and observation. Cessna are also offering a similarly equipped version of the stretched Model 208B for special mission.

3-View 
Model 208A Caravan IA three-view drawing of Model 208A Caravan I (1000 x 506)

Specification 
 MODELCessna Model 208 Caravan I
 ENGINE1 x Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114 turboprop engine, 477kW
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight3629 kg8001 lb
  Empty weight1752 kg3863 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan15.88 m52 ft 1 in
  Length11.46 m38 ft 7 in
  Height4.32 m14 ft 2 in
  Wing area25.96 m2279.43 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Cruise speed341 km/h212 mph
  Ceiling8410 m27600 ft
  Range1797 km1117 miles

Comments
berkane redda, e-mail, 12.02.2015 16:31

verry verry good airplane if you need somme help send me message .i will verry hapy ti help you .have a good day .(redda from algeria.)

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Ebrahim, e-mail, 04.04.2013 04:17

please learn me how can fix the brak

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jim hanson, e-mail, 24.03.2011 19:31

We had the float certification airplane, and flew it to 76 countries around the world, including Antarctica. A great handling airplane--it had no ice problems on wheels, but with floats, 3 /8" of ice and it quit flying. We had the original engine, but look what we accomplished with the "small" engine!

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Don Tebbs, e-mail, 01.10.2010 16:28

This is my airplane of choice on MFS 2002, 2004. It is fast yet easy to land on touch and goes. I use it on touch and goes around the Island of Oahu in Hawaii. I also use it to fly Kodiak Island and trips around Anchorage, AK. Lots of fun.

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Doc, e-mail, 14.01.2010 09:52

My 6 yr. old son started flying this plane when he was about 3 years old (on Micro-Soft Flight Sim). It was one of our favorites flying in and out of Big Bear Lake California :-)
P.S. I believe Jimmy Buffet has this exact plane.

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John Furqueron, e-mail, 01.01.2010 18:30

I flew this the 208B for 6 years in the Pacific NW for Empire and FedEx. It was a good plane for the job it had and I felt quite safe in it regardless of the weather. It has gotten a bad rap from the FAA for Ice, but as I look at the reports on the ice problems, almost all were pilot related. You just have to know when to go and went to sit and when to get out of it. Would loved some more power though for climb.

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Sergio Neira, e-mail, 09.10.2009 04:14

Hello, I need to know what is the chord?, I need that information to design a radio-controlled scale model of Cessna, thanks

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