Cessna 162 Skycatcher: Specs, Performance And POH Guide

The Cessna 162 Skycatcher is the most interesting failure in modern light aircraft. Cessna built it to be the airplane that brought new pilots into aviation through the then-new light sport category, sold a few hundred of them, and killed the program inside four years. It remains a genuinely pleasant little two-seater, it still turns up in light sport rental fleets, and it is one of the most searched-for airplanes that almost nobody has flown. This page is a plain-English reference to what it is, what its numbers are, and what you will find in its Pilot's Operating Handbook.

What The Cessna 162 Skycatcher Is

The Skycatcher is a two-seat, single-engine, high-wing, fixed-gear light sport aircraft. It is all of the things a Cessna traditionally is — strut-braced high wing, tricycle gear, a Continental flat-four out front — shrunk down and lightened until it fits inside the weight limits of the light sport category. It seats a pilot and one passenger side by side, it has a fixed-pitch propeller, and it carries a glass panel rather than steam gauges.

Cessna announced it in 2006 as the Model 162, flew the proof-of-concept in 2008, and delivered the first production aircraft in December 2009. Production ended in December 2013. It is known by a handful of names in search — Cessna Skycatcher, Cessna 162, C162, Cessna LSA — and they are all the same airplane.

Two design details set it apart from the rest of the Cessna line. The doors swing upward rather than outward, which is unusual for a Cessna and genuinely convenient on a crowded ramp. And the control yokes are single-handed panel-mounted sticks rather than the traditional Cessna wheel on a shaft, an arrangement that frees up cabin space and looks nothing like the 172 it superficially resembles.

Its Place As A Light Sport Aircraft

The Skycatcher exists because of a rule change. In 2004 the FAA created the light sport aircraft category and the sport pilot certificate alongside it, aiming to lower the cost and the medical barrier to entry into flying. Manufacturers responded with a wave of small, light, simple two-seaters, and Cessna — the largest name in general aviation training — decided it wanted one.

The Skycatcher received its ASTM light sport approval in July 2009. Rather than being certificated under the traditional FAA part that governs normal-category airplanes, light sport aircraft are built to consensus standards written by ASTM International and are accepted by the FAA on that basis. That is a fundamentally different regulatory route, and it is the reason light sport airplanes reached the market quickly and cheaply relative to a conventional certification program.

What The LSA Designation Means For Who Can Fly It

The practical consequence of the light sport designation is about privileges, not about the airplane.

• A sport pilot can fly it. The sport pilot certificate requires substantially less flight training than a private pilot certificate and is limited to light sport aircraft.
• A driver's license can serve in place of a medical certificate. Sport pilot privileges may be exercised using a valid US driver's license instead of an FAA medical certificate, provided the pilot has not had a medical application denied or a medical certificate revoked or suspended, and meets the other conditions of the rule. For a lot of people this is the entire appeal of the category.
• The privileges come with limits. Sport pilot flying is day, visual conditions, one passenger, and no flight for compensation, with further restrictions on airspace and altitude unless specific endorsements are held.
• A private pilot can fly it too. A pilot holding a private certificate and a current medical or BasicMed qualification can fly a light sport aircraft under their own, broader privileges.

None of that changes the airplane. A Skycatcher is the same machine regardless of which certificate the person in the left seat holds; what changes is what that person is permitted to do with it.

Airframe, Engine And Construction

The Skycatcher is predominantly conventional aluminum construction — a riveted metal airframe in the Cessna tradition — with a composite cowling and composite fairings. It is not a carbon-fiber airplane in the way a Diamond or a Cirrus is, and describing it as "composite" would be wrong; it is a metal airplane with composite parts where they save weight or simplify a curved shape.

Its manufacturing story is part of why it is remembered. The airframes were built by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation in China under contract to Cessna, then shipped for final assembly and finishing in Kansas. The decision was controversial with a customer base that expected a Cessna to be built in Wichita, and it is regularly cited as one of several reasons the airplane struggled commercially.

The Continental O-200D

The powerplant is a Continental O-200-D: an air-cooled, horizontally opposed, carbureted four-cylinder of 200 cubic inches producing 100 horsepower. The O-200 family is one of the longest-serving engines in light aviation — it is the engine of the Cessna 150, among many others — and the O-200-D is a weight-optimized development of it, produced specifically for the light sport market where every pound counts against a hard 1,320-pound gross weight ceiling.

It drives a two-blade, fixed-pitch composite propeller. There is no propeller control in the cockpit and no constant-speed unit to manage: you set power with the throttle and read the tachometer. Because the engine is carbureted, carburetor heat is on the checklist and carburetor icing is a real consideration in the right humidity and temperature range.

Landing Gear, Flaps And Panel

Fixed tricycle landing gear with a steerable nosewheel, spring steel main legs, and nothing to retract. Electrically actuated flaps. The instrument panel in production aircraft was built around the Garmin G300, a two-screen glass system pairing a primary flight display with a multi-function display — which meant a student in a Skycatcher was learning on glass from the first lesson, at a time when most trainers still had round gauges.

Dimensions, Weights And Capacities

These are typical published figures for a production Skycatcher. Your aircraft's actual empty weight and useful load come from its individual weight and balance record, not from any table on the internet.

The useful load is where the Skycatcher's reputation was made and unmade. With full fuel at 24 gallons — about 144 pounds — a typical airplane has roughly 310 to 340 pounds left for two people and their bags. That is fine for a light instructor and a light student. It is not fine for two average American adults, and the complaint that the airplane could not carry two grown men with full tanks was one of the loudest criticisms leveled at it. Published empty weights vary meaningfully between individual aircraft and between sources, which makes the actual weight and balance sheet for the specific tail number the only figure worth planning against.

Typical Performance And V-Speeds

Published figures for the Skycatcher vary more between sources than they do for most airplanes, partly because so few were built and partly because different sources quote different configurations and conditions. Treat the table below as a general picture and confirm every number against the handbook for the aircraft you are flying.

A note on the climb figure in particular. Nearly nine hundred feet per minute sounds impressive for a hundred-horsepower airplane, and at light weight in cool air it is. At gross weight on a hot afternoon in the San Fernando Valley, with a density altitude several thousand feet above the field elevation, the number you actually get is a fraction of that. This is exactly the sort of thing a performance chart is for, and exactly the sort of thing a marketing brochure is not.

Where sources disagree — and for this airplane they disagree on empty weight, on ceiling, and on stall speeds — we have said so rather than picking a number and presenting it as fact. The handbook for the individual airplane is the authority.

Why Cessna Discontinued The Skycatcher

Cessna ended production in December 2013, and in 2016 scrapped the unsold airframes remaining in inventory rather than discounting them into the market. Total production was in the region of 275 aircraft, of which fewer were actually delivered to customers. For a company that has built tens of thousands of 172s, that is a rounding error.

Several factors are consistently cited:

• Price. The airplane was announced at a figure meant to undercut the light sport market and climbed steeply, reaching roughly $149,000 by 2011. At that price it was competing against used four-seat aircraft with double the capability.
• Useful load. Empty weight grew during development, and a 1,320-pound gross limit leaves no room for that. The result was an airplane that struggled to carry two adults and full fuel.
• Performance expectations. Buyers coming from Cessna's own product line expected more, and a 100-horsepower two-seater with modest cruise did not feel like a step forward.
• Cabin size. Forty-four inches at the shoulders is not generous for two adults on a long flight.
• Manufacturing controversy. Building the airframe in China damaged the proposition for part of the traditional Cessna customer base.
• The market itself. The light sport category never grew to the size the industry forecast in 2004, and the Skycatcher was not the only LSA program that failed to find its buyers.

The airplane's reputation among people who actually flew it is generally better than its commercial record suggests. It is pleasant to handle, visibility is good, the glass panel was ahead of the trainers it was competing with, and the fuel burn is a fraction of a four-seater's. It was simply not the airplane the market was willing to pay Cessna prices for.

What A POH Contains And How To Read One

Modern general aviation handbooks follow the GAMA standardized format, which means the sections appear in the same order in almost every book. Learn the order once and you can find anything in any airplane's handbook.

Section 1 — General

Three-view drawings, principal dimensions, engine and propeller data, fuel and oil specifications, and the glossary of symbols and abbreviations. This is also where you confirm you are holding the correct handbook for the correct serial number range.

Section 2 — Limitations

The binding operating envelope: airspeed limitations and instrument markings, powerplant limitations, weight and center of gravity limits, approved maneuvers, load factors, fuel limitations and required placards. Nothing here is advisory.

Section 3 — Emergency Procedures

Engine failure on takeoff, in flight and on approach; fire; electrical failure; loss of oil pressure; forced landing; and the rest. Bold items are memory items and are expected to be executed without opening the book.

Section 4 — Normal Procedures

Preflight walkaround, starting, taxi, run-up, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, approach, landing and shutdown. Your operator's checklist is derived from this section, and where the two disagree the handbook wins.

Section 5 — Performance

Takeoff and landing distance charts, climb performance, cruise power settings, range and endurance, and stall speeds at varying weights and bank angles. Most charts take several inputs at once — pressure altitude, temperature, weight, wind component, runway surface — and are worked by entering at one edge and stepping between reference lines, following the guide lines proportionally rather than parallel to them.

Section 6 — Weight And Balance

The individual aircraft's equipment list, as-weighed empty weight, empty center of gravity, loading arms and the CG envelope. This section belongs to one tail number and to no other.

Section 7 — Systems Description

How the airframe, flight controls, fuel system, electrical system, pitot-static system, brakes, heating and ventilation actually work. It is the section pilots skip and then wish they had read.

Section 8 — Handling, Servicing And Maintenance

Ground handling, towing, tie-down, servicing points, tire pressures, oil and fuel servicing, and owner inspection intervals. Deeper maintenance procedures live in a separate maintenance manual written for mechanics, which is a different publication entirely.

Section 9 — Supplements

One supplement per item of optional equipment installed. A supplement can override the main body of the handbook for the system it covers, which is why the supplements in an unfamiliar airplane are worth reading before you fly it.

Why The Handbook Is Aircraft-Specific

There is no single universal Skycatcher handbook. Documents are issued by serial number range and revision, and each individual aircraft's book is further personalized by its own weight and balance record and its own supplements. Two aircraft of the same model can differ by tens of pounds in empty weight, and on an airplane with a 1,320-pound ceiling that difference is a meaningful share of what you can carry. A PDF found online is a study aid. The FAA-accepted handbook issued for that tail number, with its current revisions aboard, is the authority for flight.

Where To Get The Official Manual

We do not host, reproduce or distribute the Cessna Pilot's Operating Handbook for this or any other aircraft. It is a copyrighted publication, and beyond copyright there is a safety reason not to circulate loose copies: an uncontrolled PDF carries no revision status, and a superseded handbook is worse than no handbook at all.

To obtain a legitimate copy:

• Order through Textron Aviation's publications service, which supplies Cessna manuals and revision subscriptions by model and serial number.
• Order through an authorized Cessna service center, who can confirm the correct document number for your serial number.
• If you own the aircraft, the original handbook should have transferred with it; the manufacturer can supply a replacement keyed to the serial number.
• If you are renting or training, the handbook is aboard the airplane. Ask to read it on the ground before you fly. Any well-run operation will hand it to you.

What It Is Like To Fly

Pilots who have flown the Skycatcher tend to describe it in similar terms. It is light on the controls in a way a 172 is not, and the panel-mounted stick yokes take about five minutes to stop noticing. Visibility out of the high wing with the upward-opening doors is excellent, and on a warm day you can taxi with them open. It is quiet by light aircraft standards and the glass panel gives you more information than the trainer generation before it ever did.

It is also light, which cuts both ways. In smooth morning air it is a delight. In afternoon turbulence over the Valley it moves around more than a heavier airplane, and crosswind landings ask for attention because there is not much mass to help you. The stall is docile. The climb is adequate rather than exciting. And you plan every flight around the useful load, because with two adults aboard, fuel becomes the variable you trade against.

None of that is a criticism of the airplane so much as a description of what a 1,320-pound aircraft is. It does exactly what it was designed to do, cheaply. That the market decided it did not want to pay for it is a separate matter.

Fly At Van Nuys

Reading specifications only gets you so far. If you want to know what a light single actually feels like with your hands on the controls, a discovery flight is the fastest route — a real flight from Van Nuys Airport with a certificated flight instructor beside you, where you do the flying. It costs $229, takes about an hour, and requires no certificate, no medical and no experience. If you go on to train, the time is loggable.

Which airplane your flight uses is confirmed on the day; we do not commit to a specific type in advance. See The Airplanes You'll Fly for what is typically on the ramp, and our reference pages on the Piper Warrior PA-28-161, the Diamond DA20-C1 and the Cirrus SR20 and SR22. If you are curious about renting rather than flying with an instructor, our guide to aircraft rental at Van Nuys Airport explains what that involves. For training toward a certificate, our sister school Essence Flight School operates from the same field.

We are at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) — 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406 . Open 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days. Call (818) 330-1318.