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By J. Mac McClellan
I was lucky enough to be the guy who flew and wrote about the very first Cessna Caravan for Flying 25 years ago and remember that experience clearly because the big turboprop single was such a wonderful surprise. Though its max takeoff weight was twice that of the next biggest Cessna single, the Caravan had the most pleasant flying qualities of the bunch. Instead of flying like the truck it resembled, it had excellent control harmony and lower control forces than even a Cessna 182 at forward CG.
I shouldn't have been surprised because Dave Ellis was heading up the aerodynamics group at Cessna when the Caravan was designed from a clean sheet of paper, and flying qualities were Dave's specialty. In fact, Dave was working at Calspan when it consulted and help refine the flying qualities of the original Citation. Though everyone wished for more speed and range from the Citation 500, all agreed it had the most predictable and pilot friendly flying qualities of any business jet to enter service. And those flying qualities helped the Citation 500 post the best safety record ever for a jet, so good Cessna was awarded the Collier Trophy for actually demonstrating excellence in actual service, as the deed of the trophy requires.
The Caravan was created with only the utility mission in mind. It's size and performance were tradeoffs made in favor of hauling the most stuff with as much speed as possible while still keeping the operating cost per mile at the low point. Cessna could have made it as miserable to fly as certification standards allow because at the time nobody expected anybody to fly the Caravan except as a job. History is full of difficult-to-handle airplanes that still succeeded because they were effective in their mission. But with Dave in on the design from scratch that wasn't going to happen. He knew there is no need to trade good flying qualities for effectiveness in carrying out the designed mission.
The Caravan was an immediate smash hit around the world with FedEx being the first and biggest customer. Cessna advertised the Caravan as the do-everything replacement for the DC-3, and that was accurate. The Douglas is much bigger and can carry more in a single load, but even it couldn't match the low cost and reliability of the Caravan as a utility airplane. And the turboprop engine solved the avgas availability issue in remote parts of the world where the Caravan is such a favorite.
Because the original design was so solid, Cessna was able to stretch it into the Grand Caravan, add cargo pods to the belly, certify it on floats, increase engine power, and up max takeoff weight by thousands of pounds all without destroying its excellent and predictable flying qualities. I am convinced that those very flying qualities have also helped build the Caravan's excellent safety record. Yes, there have been accidents, but compared to other airplanes that toil in the utility role hauling freight in all kinds of weather, often at night, the Caravan stands out for its excellent record.
What none of us imagined back in 1985 is that the Caravan would be used as a personal airplane, but hundreds are. Pilots love the go-anywhere capability to use small and short runways, and the reliability of the Pratt PT6, but nothing tops the space of the cabin that gives you the room to spread out with a deluxe interior and available payload to take along everything you want. Despite those capabilities, I don't think the Caravan would enjoy a fraction of its success as a personal airplane if it didn't have such good flying qualities.
The Caravan set a new standard 25 yeas ago by creating its own market niche and proving that being nice to fly is as important to success as any measure of performance. In the years that followed, other new design airplanes have also proven to be pilot friendly, but not all of them. So the Caravan still poses the challenge to the industry that if an airplane can look as big and clunky as that, and be so versatile in its mission, and still make the pilot's job a pleasant experience, why can't all airplanes?
Fonte: Flying Magazine
I was lucky enough to be the guy who flew and wrote about the very first Cessna Caravan for Flying 25 years ago and remember that experience clearly because the big turboprop single was such a wonderful surprise. Though its max takeoff weight was twice that of the next biggest Cessna single, the Caravan had the most pleasant flying qualities of the bunch. Instead of flying like the truck it resembled, it had excellent control harmony and lower control forces than even a Cessna 182 at forward CG.
I shouldn't have been surprised because Dave Ellis was heading up the aerodynamics group at Cessna when the Caravan was designed from a clean sheet of paper, and flying qualities were Dave's specialty. In fact, Dave was working at Calspan when it consulted and help refine the flying qualities of the original Citation. Though everyone wished for more speed and range from the Citation 500, all agreed it had the most predictable and pilot friendly flying qualities of any business jet to enter service. And those flying qualities helped the Citation 500 post the best safety record ever for a jet, so good Cessna was awarded the Collier Trophy for actually demonstrating excellence in actual service, as the deed of the trophy requires.
The Caravan was created with only the utility mission in mind. It's size and performance were tradeoffs made in favor of hauling the most stuff with as much speed as possible while still keeping the operating cost per mile at the low point. Cessna could have made it as miserable to fly as certification standards allow because at the time nobody expected anybody to fly the Caravan except as a job. History is full of difficult-to-handle airplanes that still succeeded because they were effective in their mission. But with Dave in on the design from scratch that wasn't going to happen. He knew there is no need to trade good flying qualities for effectiveness in carrying out the designed mission.
The Caravan was an immediate smash hit around the world with FedEx being the first and biggest customer. Cessna advertised the Caravan as the do-everything replacement for the DC-3, and that was accurate. The Douglas is much bigger and can carry more in a single load, but even it couldn't match the low cost and reliability of the Caravan as a utility airplane. And the turboprop engine solved the avgas availability issue in remote parts of the world where the Caravan is such a favorite.
Because the original design was so solid, Cessna was able to stretch it into the Grand Caravan, add cargo pods to the belly, certify it on floats, increase engine power, and up max takeoff weight by thousands of pounds all without destroying its excellent and predictable flying qualities. I am convinced that those very flying qualities have also helped build the Caravan's excellent safety record. Yes, there have been accidents, but compared to other airplanes that toil in the utility role hauling freight in all kinds of weather, often at night, the Caravan stands out for its excellent record.
What none of us imagined back in 1985 is that the Caravan would be used as a personal airplane, but hundreds are. Pilots love the go-anywhere capability to use small and short runways, and the reliability of the Pratt PT6, but nothing tops the space of the cabin that gives you the room to spread out with a deluxe interior and available payload to take along everything you want. Despite those capabilities, I don't think the Caravan would enjoy a fraction of its success as a personal airplane if it didn't have such good flying qualities.
The Caravan set a new standard 25 yeas ago by creating its own market niche and proving that being nice to fly is as important to success as any measure of performance. In the years that followed, other new design airplanes have also proven to be pilot friendly, but not all of them. So the Caravan still poses the challenge to the industry that if an airplane can look as big and clunky as that, and be so versatile in its mission, and still make the pilot's job a pleasant experience, why can't all airplanes?
Fonte: Flying Magazine
