LAKELAND, Fla., April 21, 2009 – Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, opened its exhibition at the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Fla., today with the announcement of two single-engine piston fleet orders.
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) has ordered 19 additional new Cessna 182T Skylanes. CAP, a non-profit volunteer organization that serves as the auxiliary to the U.S. Air Force, has the largest fleet of Cessna single-engine aircraft in the world with more than 500 Cessnas used for missions in its disaster relief, cadet programs, aerospace education and search and rescue operations.
The University of North Dakota has ordered 13 additional new Cessna 172S Skyhawks to be used for flight training at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. UND Aerospace will fly some 120,000 hours this year with one of the largest training fleets – more than 120 aircraft. This order is part of a multi-year contract announced last year to update the university’s single-engine aircraft with Skyhawks. The school ordered and took delivery of 25 172S aircraft in 2008.
“These orders further reinforce our long-standing relationships with CAP and UND Aerospace, two outstanding organizations. We’re especially pleased to be able to announce these orders at Sun ’n Fun, where we look forward to carrying over the momentum from a high-activity, well attended AERO Friedrichshafen event earlier this month in Germany,” said John Doman, Cessna’s vice president, Worldwide Propeller Aircraft Sales.
At Sun ’n Fun, Cessna is displaying two Skyhawks, a Skylane, a Turbo Stationair, a 350 Corvalis, a 400 Corvalis TT, two Grand Caravans, a Citation Mustang and a Citation CJ2+. The exhibit will also include a mock-up of the SkyCatcher light sport aircraft currently in development.
