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Cessna 208 Caravan 

The Cessna 208 Caravan, also known as the Cargomaster, is a single turboprop engine, fixed-gear short-haul regional airliner and utility aircraft built in the USA by Cessna. The airplane typically seats nine passengers, with a single person crew, although with a FAR Part 23 waiver, it can seat up to fourteen passengers. The aircraft is also used for cargo feederliner operations.

History

The prototype first flew in December 1982 for two years of certification and testing. The production model was certified by the FAA in October of 1984. Since then, the Caravan has undergone a number of design evolutions. Working with FedEx, Cessna produced first the Cargomaster, and followed that with the stretched and upgraded Super Cargomaster. The passenger model, the Grand Caravan, was derived from the Cargomaster.

Cessna offers the 208B in many configurations. The basic 208 airframe can be outfitted with various types of landing gear, allowing it to operate in a wide variety of environments. Some common adaptations include skis, enlarged tires for unprepared runways, and pontoon floats on the Caravan Amphibian model.

In the cabin, the Caravan can be outfitted with seats or cargo holds. The standard high-density airline configuration features four rows of 1-2 seating behind the two seats in the cockpit. This variant is capable of holding up to thirteen passengers, although it is marketed as being able to make a profit carrying just four.^[1] The cabin can also be configured in a low density passenger configuration, with 1-1 seating, as a combination of passengers and cargo, or as a strictly cargo aircraft. Many variants include an under-belly cargo pod, which can be used for additional freight capacity, or for passenger baggage.

On the flight deck, the 208 features standard analog gauges alongside modern digital avionics including digital autopilot and GPS, and modern radio and transponder equipment. Cessna offers two avionics packages from separate manufacturers, one from Garmin, and the other from Bendix/King, a division of Honeywell^[2]

Models

Civilian

• 208A Caravan I The basic introductory model, outfitted for passenger operation.*
• 208A Caravan 675 The current production model of the basic Caravan, with higher-powered PT6A-114A engine.
• 208A Cargomaster Developed with FedEx, a pure cargo version of the Caravan. Fedex took delivery of 40 of these aircraft.
• 208B Grand Caravan A stretch of the Caravan I by 4 feet. The 208B also features a more powerful PT6A-114A engine.
• 208B Super Cargomaster The cargo variant of the 208B series. FedEx took delivery of 260 of these.
• Caravan Amphibian A 208A Caravan with Wipaire 8000 floats in place of the landing gear, for water landings. Some models of the floats are amphibious, also allowing land landing.
• Soloy Pathfinder 21 A twin engine stretch of the 208 developed by the Soloy Corporation. This aircraft features two PT6D-114A engines driving a single propeller, and a 70 inch stretch behind the wing.^[3]

Military

• U-27A A military offering of the 208A.
• C-98 The Brazilian Air Force designation for the standard U-27.
• C-16 The proposed American Army designation for an armed version of the U-27 that was intended to be used in Central America for counter guerrilla/insurgency warfare. However this aircraft was rejected due to the aircraft's vulnerability to ground fire.

Specifications (208B)

Data from http://www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=158

General characteristics

• Crew: 1-2 (Aircraft is certified for single pilot operation)
• Capacity: 14
• Length: 41 ft 7 in (12.67 m)
• Wingspan: 52 ft 1 in (15.88 m)
• Height: 14 ft 2 in (4.32 m)
• Wing area: 279.4 ft² (26 m²)
• Empty weight: 4570 lb (2078 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 8750 lb (3970 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114 McCauley, 675 hp (505 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 171 mph (324 km/h)
• Range: 1080 nautical miles (2000 km)
• Rate of climb: 770 ft/min (3.9 m/s)