The Cessna 162 Skycatcher is an American side-by-side two-seat, high-wing, strut-braced, tricycle gear light-sport aircraft (LSA) that was designed and produced by Cessna between December 2009 and December 2013. Its intended market was flight training and personal use.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011–12, page 34. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X
The Skycatcher received its ASTM LSA approval in July 2009.
At one time 1200 Skycatchers had been ordered, but the aircraft did not meet customer expectations and only 192 aircraft had been sold before production ended in 2013. The remaining 80 unsold aircraft were used for parts until December 2016 when the remaining aircraft were scrapped.
Development
Cessna had announced its intentions to study the feasibility of developing and producing an LSA on 6 June 2006. The concept design was unveiled on 24 July 2006 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh as the Cessna LSA (also referred to as the Cessna Sport), via a marketing study of the feasibility of producing an aircraft compliant with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's new Light-Sport Aircraft category.
On 13 October 2006, nine months after launching the program, the concept prototype aircraft, registered N158CS, first flew, departing McConnell Air Force Base for Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport and reaching a speed of . Cessna formally launched the Skycatcher program 10 July 2007, following with a press event on 22 July 2007 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh that unveiled a full-scale mockup and details about the planned production version. At that event, Cessna posted a price of $109,500, and reportedly secured 720 orders by the end of the event (claiming 1000 orders a year later)."Skycatchers Demise: Cessna Says No Future," Aviation Consumer retrieved December 5, 2025"Cessna Delivers First LSA" January 16, 2010, FLYING, retrieved December 5, 2025
The conforming prototype had its first flight on 8 March 2008, and the first initial production configuration aircraft flew on 5 May 2008.
Power was from the 100 hp Continental O-200D, a piston engine with a fixed-pitch propeller. The 162 was equipped and approved for day and night VFR. Avionics were the Garmin G300 suite.
The company carried out testing of the aircraft beyond the ASTM Light Sport Aircraft requirements, including ground vibration testing and a full airframe fatigue test program on a production aircraft. In July 2009, Cessna announced that the 162 had completed flight testing to ASTM standards. However, two prototypes were lost in unrecoverable spins during flight testing (pilots surviving).
On 9 August 2007, Cessna Aircraft announced that they had orders for 720 Skycatchers totaling US$75M. By 24 November 2007, Cessna had 850 firm orders and by the end of 2008 the company had confirmed over 1,000 orders. In July 2009, orders were still reported at "over 1,000." Cessna vice president of propeller aircraft sales John Doman said sales activity had been slow because customers did not want to wait approximately four years for a delivery slot. In December 2009, the company delivered the first production Skycatcher to its initial customer, Cessna CEO Jack Pelton's wife, Rose Pelton. The company intended that the 2010 production rate would be 300 to 400 a year, but only 30 aircraft were delivered in 2010. By late 2013 "droves" of position holders had canceled their orders due to price increases and failure of the design to meet expectations.
In October 2013, at the National Business Aviation Association convention, Cessna CEO Scott Ernest stated that the Cessna 162 had "no future". Cessna Vice President, Piston Aircraft, Jodi Noah, indicated that the aircraft had not met expectations.
In February 2014, sales were halted. In December 2016, the remaining 80 unsold 162s were scrapped. These had been used to provide parts to keep the flying fleet going.
In analyzing the imminent end of Skycatcher production, Paul Bertorelli of AVweb indicated that the reasons for ending production were high price, poor useful load and lackluster flight performance compared to its LSA market competitors.
In a February 2017 review of the aircraft's history, AVweb writer Geoff Rapoport blamed the aircraft's failure on an empty weight that was too high, fragile construction and lack of cockpit space for taller pilots. He stated, "the Skycatcher can’t keep up because it wasn’t really designed as an LSA. It’s a scaled-down Cessna 152, which is a scaled-down Cessna 172, which is a scaled-down 747. I hope I’m not bursting anyone’s bubble by pointing out that Cessna is not exactly a modern innovator in design of light aircraft." He concluded, "is this all the proof we need that LSAs make for bad airplanes? Well, maybe it’s just proof that the Skycatcher was a bad airplane."
Chinese production controversy On 27 November 2007, Cessna announced that the Cessna 162 would be made in the People's Republic of China by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, which is a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a Chinese government-owned consortium of aircraft manufacturers. By manufacturing the aircraft in China, Cessna reported that it saved US$71,000 in production costs per aircraft produced. A second reason cited for moving production to Shenyang Aircraft Corporation was that Cessna at that time had no plant capacity available in the United States.
The decision to produce the aircraft in China was controversial, and Cessna received a high degree of negative feedback from Cessna 162 customers and potential customers.
The first production Cessna 162 had its initial flight at Shenyang Aircraft in China on 17 September 2009. Customer deliveries started in December 2009.
However, to ship the aircraft to Wichita from China, they had to be disassembled, then re-assembled in Wichita. Re-assembly was assigned to Yingling Aircraft, the leading Cessna FBO, which became the first FAA-certified repair station for the Skycatcher."Skycatcher inspections, maintenance," August 30, 2010, General Aviation News, retrieved December 5, 2025"Yingling Aviation Adds Skycatcher Repair Authority," October 1, 2010, Aviation Week, retrieved December 5, 2025 The Skycatcher work was transferred to Cessna's Independence, Kansas factory in 2014.McMillin, Molly: "Cessna moves Skycatcher work from Wichita to Independence," August 8, 2014, Wichita Eagle, retrieved December 5, 2025
Pricing Cessna President and CEO Jack Pelton had originally indicated that Cessna was aiming for a price of under US$100,000 for the aircraft, which Pelton indicated would be a challenge to achieve. At that price point, Pelton predicted that Cessna would be able to sell 600 of the aircraft per year.
The 22 July 2007 announcement indicated that these price goals were not met. The first 1000 aircraft ordered were sold for US$109,500. The price was increased to US$111,500 in 2008 and US$112,250 in 2010.
In November 2011, the company indicated that the price was being increased to US$149,000. Part of the price increase was due to the incorporation of optional features as standard, including the multi-function display, intercom and sun visors. About US$20,000 of the increase was to improve company profits on the aircraft. Russ Niles writing for AVweb noted, "the new price puts the Skycatcher at the upper end of the market for LSAs". The 30% price increase attracted aviation media attention. Paul Bertorelli writing for AVweb concluded, "Only one thing mystifies me about this decision. Cessna is the only LSA manufacturer well established with manufacturing in China. If a company with Cessna's economy of scale and marketing acumen can't make an LSA more affordable by building it in China, the notion of low-cost aircraft may very well be the myth that many people think it is."
The price increase to US$149,000 left the design priced well above its competition and also contractually allowed buyers who had deposits on the Cessna 162 to cancel their orders and claim refunds, which, by the end of 2013, large numbers of position holders did.
European certification In April 2012, the company was forced to refund deposits to a number of customers in Europe due to delays in gaining EASA certification. The 162 required both a type certificate and production certificate to be sold in Europe and at that point it had neither.
In July 2012, the company announced its solution, that the design would be removed from the US light-sport category and moved to the primary aircraft category. Primary category acceptance would have included type and production certificates and would have allowed the aircraft to be sold in Europe after the certification was validated. Primary Category certification was never completed.
Design
The Cessna 162's design evolved considerably from the first prototype, including the wing position and tail configuration. The high-wing monoplane has fixed tricycle landing gear, with a castering nosewheel. The wingspan is and internal cabin width is at shoulder height. The doors are different from previous two-seat Cessna models in that they open by swinging upward. The controls are unusual for a Cessna in that they have single-hand panel-mounted yokes instead of the usual two-hand panel-mounted yokes.
The aircraft's structure is mostly aluminum with a fiberglass cowling. Cessna LSA Project head Neal Willford indicated in August 2006 that Cessna was investigating the use of "match hole drilling" to reduce costs and simplify construction of the design. This technique is widely used in the kit-plane industry and in construction of larger aircraft, but would be Cessna's first use in its single-engine line. On 9 October 2007 Cessna announced that a Ballistic Recovery Systems airframe ballistic parachute system would be a factory-installed option on the Cessna 162.
While the initial proof-of-concept aircraft flew with a Rotax 912S engine, the production Cessna 162 is powered by a direct drive air-cooled, carbureted Continental O-200-D engine, producing at 2,800 rpm and equipped with a two-blade, fixed pitch composite propeller. With the O-200D engine the Skycatcher is capable of cruise at speeds as high as , with a maximum range of at a gross weight of .
The Cessna 162 is equipped for day and night VFR flying only. Production aircraft were delivered with a Garmin G300 EFIS installed, as well as a Garmin SL40 communications radio, a GTX327 transponder, and a 121.5 MHz ELT. Flight data is presented on the G300 in a single, split-screen combination primary flight display and multi-function display. Information can also be shown on two full-screen displays with installation of a second screen, which were purchase options. An autopilot and an audio panel were also available options.
The Cessna 162 has a maximum gross take-off weight of and a standard empty weight of . With a full fuel load of the payload remaining for crew and baggage is . The standard empty weight does not include the fire extinguisher, ELT, wheel pants, engine primer, unusable fuel and many other items normally included. One typical early production aircraft had an equipped weight of , giving a full fuel payload of .
Test flying crashes and redesigns
First prototype crash A non-conforming prototype Cessna 162, registered N162XP, crashed on 18 September 2008, in a treeline near Douglass, Kansas, approximately southeast of Wichita, Kansas. The test pilot parachuted to safety and suffered only minor injuries. The prototype had flown about 150 hours prior to the accident.