Is this true?!

[rwanttaja]

Article in the Wichita newspaper:

http://www.kansas.com/news/business/...121267978.html

"Textron Aviation spokeswoman Rosa Lee Argotsinger said in an e-mail that Cessna retained its remaining inventory of Skycatchers for spare parts after the company ended sales and marketing of them in early 2014.

“The company did dispose of what remained after salvaging usable parts,” Argotsinger said in the e-mail."

So it sounds like these were aircraft Cessna never intended to sell, and that some useful goodies *were* saved.

Ron Wanttaja

[Sirota]

Per AvWeb Cessna Scraps Unsold Skycatchers By Elaine Kauh Cessna has scrapped the remaining inventory (photo gallery) of its 162-model Skycatcher airplanes, capping the end of the company’s light-sport program. AVweb has learned that the unsold Skycatchers, which the company confirmed in 2014 amounted to about 80 aircraft, were destroyed as shown in photos of an assembled but unfinished Cessna 162 being dropped into a recycling container as similar aircraft sit in storage. Cessna told AVweb on Thursday that it "utilized the remaining inventory for spare parts to ensure the current fleet of fielded aircraft can receive ongoing support. The company did dispose of what remained after salvaging usable parts." In response to questions about the decision, the company did not specify further. The Skycatcher program launched in 2007 soon after the advent of the light sport pilot certificate, which allowed some pilots to enter or re-enter GA flying without medicals. LSAs, which are limited to 1320 pounds and other criteria, opened up what aircraft makers saw as a potential big market for new buyers. Major manufacturers such as Cessna and Piper developed light-sport designs, but sales never met expectations. Cessna delivered the first 162s in 2011 and had more than 1,000 orders at the time, but less than 200 were reported delivered. In 2013, Cessna CEO Scott Ernest said the Skycatcher had “no future.” Nearly two years ago, Cessna said it would halt sales of the two-seat LSA and use the remaining airplanes for spare parts.

[martymayes]

There were ~1000 planes on order. ~200 delivered, despite having ~80 production airplanes in inventory, ready for final assembly and delivery, a halt was put on any further deliveries. I would bet that was a high level decision. Salvaged usable parts? Not likely. They want those planes out of circulation ASAP.

Looks like another dumpster diving missed opportunity.

[DaleB]

Ten minutes and a plasma cutter sure would have been nice!

[John Cox]

Wouldn't this be a Great Question for Mr. Pelton?? I would rather not fan the flames of False News.

[Floatsflyer]

Per AvWeb

The Skycatcher program launched in 2007 soon after the advent of the light sport pilot certificate, which allowed some pilots to enter or re-enter GA flying without medicals. LSAs, which are limited to 1320 pounds and other criteria, opened up what aircraft makers saw as a potential big market for new buyers. Major manufacturers such as Cessna and Piper developed light-sport designs, but sales never met expectations. Cessna delivered the first 162s in 2011 and had more than 1,000 orders at the time, but less than 200 were reported delivered. In 2013, Cessna CEO Scott Ernest said the Skycatcher had “no future.”

The avweb reporter has not told the whole story. At Oshkosh in 2007, Cessna made it look like they were giving Skycatchers away. They had a bright red electronic tote board in their exhibit tent showing the number of pre-sold Skycatchers. It went to an astounding over 1400 for the week. What we didn't know at the time was that over 80% of them were Cessna dealer sales which they were compelled by Cessna to purchase.

Piper partnered with a Czech company design and very soon after dissolved the partnership over some corporate in-fighting. Only a tiny handful of Piper branded light sports were sold. Cirrus got into the act as well but cancelled there very nice looking LSA(shown at Oshkosh)almost before it even started. They said at the time they wanted to concentrate efforts and resources on their VLJ jet but then that program shut down for a few years and then was later revived. Truth was Cirrus was in deep doo doo financially.

What really killed it for Skycatcher was Cessna increasing the price from $109K to a whopping $150k within one year of delivering the first one(to Jack Pelton's wife no less). The dealers and the public said for what? A bare bones 2 place airplane with 100mph cruise, no interior and a useless useful load. They all walked away.

Then Cessna soon realized they couldn't sell them outside the US because the LSA weight limits were too high for Canadian, European and Australian ultralight categories. So they started the process to reclassify the Skycatcher from LSA to Primary Category to enhance sales efforts outside the US. I think this was actually completed but it was too late.

[raytoews]

Score another one for the liayers. Any of you out there hang your heads for a minute and pray forgiveness.
And don't feed me the bullshit about the system and insurance companies. I'm not buying. I live in Canada.

[Floatsflyer]

Score another one for the liayers. Any of you out there hang your heads for a minute and pray forgiveness.
And don't feed me the bullshit about the system and insurance companies. I'm not buying. I live in Canada.

I'm Canadian and live in Canada(Toronto) so you'll forgive me when I ask you, WTF are you talkin' about?

[Sirota]

Score another one for the liayers. Any of you out there hang your heads for a minute and pray forgiveness.
And don't feed me the bullshit about the system and insurance companies. I'm not buying. I live in Canada.

Funny how everyone like to blame and trash the lawyers but then look for the meanest junkyard dog of an attorney when they think they've been wronged. I'm not an attorney but I deal with a lot of them. Remember, its the jury that sets the awards, not the lawyers. Want to blame someone, look at ourselves - the jurors.

[CarlOrton]

Funny how everyone like to blame and trash the lawyers but then look for the meanest junkyard dog of an attorney when they think they've been wronged. I'm not an attorney but I deal with a lot of them. Remember, its the jury that sets the awards, not the lawyers. Want to blame someone, look at ourselves - the jurors.

One of my favorite quotes was from Breaking Bad: "You don't need a criminal lawyer. You need a CRIMINAL lawyer..."