Textron’s Cessna SkyCourier Aircraft Makes Its First Flight - AIN 

People keep missing the main selling point and the reason why it was build: It hauls 3, LD3 containers which are standardized aviation containers. For a max cargo load of 6000 pounds or 2722 kg, It will only take a few minutes to load and unload this aircraft = less downtime. It has single point refuelling just like big airliners, meaning bigger pressure and much faster re-fuelling, again = less downtime. Remember, aircraft do not make money sitting on the ramp. It's got the simple and reliable Garmin G-1000 cockpit, a fixed gear meaning less maintenance and things that can go wrong. And the worlds best selling turboprops the P&W PT6 powering it. It's already a success before it's been delivered. Fedex ordered 50 of them with an option for 50 more to replace some of it's hundreds of Cessna 208 Caravans.

Not only does Cessna produce excellent quality, high-performance aircraft, they are all cosmetically beautiful!!!

Thanks to the founder of this equipment. Salute from Egypt 👏👍🇪🇬

Finally. A twin engine "Caravan". As if the industry hasn't been screaming for one more than 30 years. Just saying.

Looks like the Twin Otter to me down to the engines.

Looks like an Australian made Nomad from the 1980's

Some people have already made comments on the similarities between this aircraft and the Shorts 360 and it's cargo predecessor, the Skyvan. I live near Belfast, and the similarities are remarkable. The Skyvan in particular did look like a shoebox with wings but it was widely used in mountainous countries such as Nepal for cargo. I only flew once in a 360 as a passenger and it seemed as if the engines were working overtime. However, I'm proud of Shorts and its background. During the Second World War it produced the Shorts Sunderland Flying Boat and in later years turned out 10 Belfast Freighters for the RAF. They were the largest cargo plane in the world at the time. The RAF sold them off just before the Falkland's conflict and had to lease them back again to ferry cargo to Ascension Island. Later, they built the turbo -prop Tucano trainer for the RAF which is still in use today. I seem to remember that the Tucano can fly as fast as 400 mph and is the preliminary trainer before moving on to fast jets.

And it comes with no autopilot. Perfect for those cross-country overnight mail hauls. I'm sure many of us have done those..... 😉

DHC is caught asleep at the yoke. It's a improved Twin Otter.

It's kinda cute and fun to fly. Well, sometimes, it's good to fly a modern design turboprop regionally, at 300 kph, as long as flying above the clouds.

Great idea most of the existing models in the class are of production or old types. Fixed gear to avoid undercarriage problems the bane of most aircraft. Still has its Spin test chute at the rear.

While a bigger aircraft, The Caribou is probably still my favorite cargo plane and it has stol capabilities.

Looks similar to N219 Nurtanio (without lift strut on the wing) made by Indonesian PTDI which has been tested flight on August 2017

The perfect cargo plane for a private mercenary company lol.

Classy aircraft!

I’m so happy so see Cessna doing this. Way to go! Great job!

It's an updated 1900D, targeted at a slightly different part of the market. They moved the wing up high, which was probably a good thing, and it looks like they widened the fuselage some. Fixed gear was an interesting choice.

"Twin Auger" has a nice ring to it.

The Twin Otter has a cousin! 5.8 mil... ouch. Better choose cargo, coz you're only gonna be able to fill 6 seats for social distancing.

Cessna just “invented” the Twin Otter and Shorts 360. Hmmmmm!

Cheaper to buy n operate than twin otter, faster , proper 19 pass seating, much shorter wait-list. Just like caravan before, Cessna really got it rigjt!

Dornier 228 Engineer: “Where are our design plans gone?”😉

Have you ever heard of the Sky Van made by Shorts in Belfast they are just like little brothers I would check their DNA.

I would turn it into a flying RV decked out completely.

Let us compare to Nurtanio N-219🛫😎

Nice airplane A universal fuselage for cargo or passengers,twin engines ,It is going to look like a twin otter no mater what. There is only so many variations of a twin eng air plane. They all have great similarities for Godsake.

Love the aluminum tape all over it!

Would they need to be quite careful with load balancing, one over/under-weight container out of the 3 could perhaps throw the balance way off?

The shape almost like N219 PTDI, first time of the test flight in august 2017

Nice a Next Gen Twin Otter.

Congratulations, Cessna, you just re-invented the DC-2.

The Britten Norman BN-2 Islander 1965 comes to mind...

Its similar in design with Shorts Aircraft.

Twin Otter definitely!

Wow, they've invented a 19 pax, fixed gear airplane with two PT-6's. I'm in awe. (That's a DHC-6 I'm leaning against, BTW)

I know fu#k all about aerodynamics and aviation design. But that plane looks solid and reliable!!!

“Textron set to compete with Viking’s Twin Otter.”

I would love to skydive in one other this SkyCourier !!!

The configuration is so very close to a Shorts Sherpa that it can hardly be called a "new design." I was a passenger on Sherpa military "ash and trash" logistics flights on those in West Germany, back around 1986.

This aircraft has great potential for military transport purposes.... excellent candidate!!!

They did this first on the other side of the world in Indonesia. Meet Nurtanio N-219 first took off in 2017

Looks like a great aircraft

Remember this from years ago Shorts Skyvan/Nomad in Aus. Could have done as well with the caribou or Buffalo.

looks like a Shorts 360 without the rear cargo door... Which isn't a bad thing, but with that door it'd be more practical.

It’s like the Australian Nomad aircraft that was build by CAE, common in the 80s/90s but has disappeared from the sky’s

So basically it's just a slower copy of the Dornier 228.

It looks like a mix between the Czech-designed LET L-410 twin-engined regional turboprop and the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop. I like it very much.

MAIS UM LINDO E EFICIENTE PRODUTO DA CESNNA,...TRADICIONAL FABRICANTE DE AVIÕES DE ASA ALTA....

Can't wait to see it with some guns and a ramp.

I want one. And I want to become a pilot to fly one now. At first I thought it was a military or JSOC plane haha. Silly me

Looks very similar to Dornier 228, almost a photocopy !

I hope they did something different where the exhaust goes over the Twin Otter wings. The corrosion caused by that was bad.

He look like the DHC6 Twin Otter. Good day.

Greetings from the Twin Otter .... ;-)

similar to old russian construction AN-28 and its developed version PZL M28 Skytruck, which is capable to takeoff and operate with one engine.

Well I hope they have a gas path cleaning/ inspection interval in the MM. It’ll cook the skins just like the Twotter if they don’t .

No new aerodynamics, but surely new avionics.

A new design? This is very close to the 23B Sherpa (Mil). The Shorts SkyVan.

Let me know how the icy wing with dozey pilot tests come out

Why does the exhaust on the left side angled up, while the exhaust on the right does not?

Let’s compare it with the N219 from pt DI which has flown for the first time on 16 August 2017.

Sweet Cessna! But Viking Air makes this already. They also have make the first all electric passenger seaplane now, based on the Beaver. Is that next for you guys??

HEADLINES: Fed Ex Delivery Trucks Mates with Cessna 208. Hideous Love Child SubHeadline: UPS Truck Seen Sniffing a DHC-6

Let alone the Twin Otter which does not offer the same cargo possibilities, I doubt it's more efficient than the Dornier Do 228 what with the undercarriage catching the wind. HAL and/or RUAG can supply the Do 228 and it is a proven efficient solution with very similar cargo capabilities. It will have to be cheaper than the HAL variant of the DO 228 to sell in Asia. If anybody has specific numbers I am interested.

As much as i love twin otters and like many have concluded, this may kill the twin otter.

If they do succeed at keeping the price of this at $5.5 Million, then it would beat the Viking Twin Otter at $6.5 Million. Although maybe this would not be suitable for the bush strips. Twin Otter is great but this beats it on cargo capacity and range. So I guess this is not a Twin Otter competitor since it needs around 3x more runway than a Twin Otter.

Looks like an 1970’es Volvo of the skies: Boxy but good.

This Airplane is like a DHC-6 Twin Otter.

Air mail, package, and freight service is extremely hard to justify on an efficiency basis, unless you buy the claim that the merchadaise is really so critical that it needs this kind of quick delivery. That happenstance is actually so rare as to be practically negligible. Far and away the most efficient form of delivery is by rail.

First. Twin otters are no longer being built. Second. Twin otters are being refurbished and sale for roughly the same price as the sky courier. Third. There's only a limited supply of twin otter frames and aircraft. Fourth. Cessna has already produced an aircraft in the 208 that was also made specifically for FedEx before. Fifth. FedEx won't be the only one purchasing that aircraft, the same scenario as with the 208. Finally. The demand for the twin otter is high, but no real true replacement, until now. FedEx changes the game again.

Imagine a Caravan-on-steroids-sized STOL Skymaster design with the 2 pt-6 engines. If they can hinge the nose of a C-5 Galaxy, they can hinge the rear fuselage cap, whether it clears the engine and prop, or takes them with it. Centerline thrust allows single engine econo-cruise after the two powerful P&W’s have catapulted the loaded bird skyward STOL-style, and continue on rocketing the whole cast party at an aggressive rate of climb up to cruise altitude, level off, and give that power setting on both engines a couple of minutes level flight to accelerate up to, and a lttle beyond, the intended single engine cruise speed so the one engine is only tasked with maintaining, NOT accelerating to, said cruise speed if it happens to be higher than the airspeed on climb out.. Cessna should build that instead of this horror ... or license somebody else to build it.

Looks like a GAF Nomad with a T tail

Looks like if the dash 8 and twin otter had a baby

Question... Pratt & Whitney engines has two exhaust pipes why one is pointing upward and the other side is normal position? Don't look right

Looks like a Dornier 228 at first glance.

A ramp would be nice, for SKYDIVING!!! Side by side with Cessna’s Caravan! I wonder how it compares to a Twin Otter?

Excellent

Looks like the DeHavilland Twin Otter

Cool! Is it a STOL aircraft? This looks like a mix of a Twin Otter, Dornier 228 and a Beech 1900! I want one Thank you! Good luck on futher testing.

Big brother to the Cessna Grand Caravan EX?

Please pardon my ignorance. I was unable to understand the motivation to develop a brand new aircraft from scratch. I am of the opinion that there are already existing aircrafts which meet such a specification.

Also looks similar to an Australian Nomad.

For the price and payload a pair of Cessna 421’s would be just as well used.

Looks like a GAF Nomad.

Nice airplane 👍💗

Wasn't the Twin Otter doing this many years ago?

Looks remarkably like a Britten Norman Islander.

I wonder how a Twin Otter would perform in the non stall environment with that wing. Could of save a lot of development cost.

Maybe this plane will shave off 9 days of the last leg of your parcels delivery time. My parcel took two days from Champaign, Illinois to Salt Lake City, NINE days from Salt Lake City to Logan, UT 85 miles north ! What the Hell !

Coming to Lukla airport real soon 👍🏼

This would be a good replacement for old Let 410s.

So it doesn't have counter rotating props?

If I am not mistaken the landing gears are fixed?

Noww N-219 has got a competitor

Looks like the Dornier, dont know about the performance though

Design as middle '60. Siluette of L-410 , the same parameters.

So Cessna designed a twin otter? Maybe they can make a new airliner by photocopying the 737max plans.

Muy lindo avión felicidades 👍🇦🇷

Jumpers away!!

Now I need to get on with FedEx and fly their little feeders and I'll get my hours of Twin-Turbine-PIC