Photograph:
Cessna Cutlass RG II VH-FLE (c/n 172RG0911) at Narromine, NSW in 2012 (David C Eyre)
Country of origin:
United States of America
Description:
Light single-engine cabin monoplane
Power Plant:
One 134 kw (180 hp) Lycoming O-360-F1A6 four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 10.92 m (35 ft 10 in)
- Length: 8.36 m (27 ft 5 in)
- Height: 2.68 m (8 ft 9½ in)
- Wing area: 16.2 m² (174 sq ft)
- Max speed at sea level: 269 km/h (167 mph)
- Cruising speed at 75% power at 2,743 m (9,000 ft): 259 km/h (161 mph)
- Initial rate of climb: 364 m/min (800 ft/min)
- Service ceiling: 5,121 m (16,800 ft)
- Max range at 3,048 m (10,000 ft): 1,556 km (840 miles)
- Empty weight: 710 kg (1,565 lb)
- Max payload: 254 kg (559 lb)
- Loaded weight: 1,202 kg (2,650 lb)
History:
The Cessna Cutlass RG was introduced to the Cessna range in late 1979 (although described as a new model for 1980) as a variant of the Model 172 Skyhawk with a retractable undercarriage, in order to compete with the very successful Piper Cherokee Arrow, a variant of the Cherokee with a retractable undercarriage. By this time some 30,000 examples of the 172 series had been built since its introduction. The undercarriage was very similar to that fitted to the 182 Skylane RG, a variant of the well-known Cessna 182 series, which was introduced shortly before the Cutlass. The three parts of the undercarriage folded up into the fuselage in a similar fashion to that developed for the Model 210 series.
Somewhat similar in appearance to the XP Hawk variant of the Model 172, which was a Model 172 re-styled and structurally strengthened to take a more powerful engine, the Cutlass had the ‘wet’ wing first introduced on the Cessna XP Hawk series, thus permitting the aircraft to have a fuel capacity of 247 litres (54 Imp gals) giving a maximum range of 1,556 km (840 miles) at 3,048 m (10,000 ft).
The Cutlass was advertised as the cheapest single-engine aircraft with a retractable undercarriage on the market, both in initial and operating costs.
The first of the type seen in this region was imported by the Sydney distributors, Rex Aviation, in late 1979. Production of the Cutlass was suspended in 1985, at which time 1,150 examples had been built. More than 60 examples have been registered in Australasia.