How fast does a single engine plane go ie Cessna?

Question

Also does it use car gasoline? How far can it go before it can get refilled? What are models names that would have been availble in 1986? This info is for a story I am writing.

Answer 1

A Cessna 172 (also known as a Skyhawk) can have 43 total gallons of fuel. Some planes might have a few more or less gallons. The gas used is aviation gas (avgas for short); it's not car gas. The model of 172 that I have is a 1985 Cessna 172P. The Vne (never exceed speed) is 158 knots indicated airspeed.

If you want a larger plane, there is a Cessna 182 which is a Skylane. The Skylane that I fly has retractable gear and has tanks to hold 92 gallons of fuel total. The Vne speed is 181.

How big of a Cessna are you writing about in your story?

Here are the different types of single-engine Cessnas and their names and numbers:

Cessna Aerobat (A150)
Cessna Commuter (150, 152)
Cessna Caravan (208)
Cessna Cardinal (177)
Cessna Centurion (210)
Cessna Cutlass (172Q and 172RG)
Cessna Skyhawk (172)
Cessna Skylane (182)
Cessna Skylark (175)
Cessna Skywagon (180, 185, 207)
Cessna Stationair (206, 207)

If you have any other questions, please feel free to write me.

Answer 2

Cessna Single Engine

Answer 3

Single Engine Cessna

Answer 4

The vne speed listed is a bit misleading. That tells you the speed you don't want to go over (like in a dive) so to avoid the unfortunate experience of having a wing rip off the rest of the plane, and other such expensive events. I thnk the above answerer would agree that for MOST light aircraft, you're cruising at around 105-115 knots, around in there. The bigger the engine, the fast you can go or the more you can haul. Below are some of the common everyday mundane single engine aircraft back in the late 80's. Some of the hotter, more expensive single engines popular back then would be the Beechcraft Bonanza, Mooney M20/201, Bellanca Viking, Grumman/American Aviation Yankee/Tiger, and lots more. Try finding aircraft for sale, you'll come up with more, but when I worked at the airport in Madison "back in the day", this is generally what we saw for smaller stuff. http://www.aso.com/i.aso3/mmg.jsp?iaso3sid=1&searchid=10529320&typeid=1
Many of the planes listed above would fly faster than 115, the smaller engined Pipers and Cessnas are about in this range though.
On "how far it can go", on the small stuff I mentioned you're in the range of maybe 5-6 hours, give or take, at 100 knots or so, maybe 400-500 miles IF you have a full tank. What you need to remember is you can't always fill the tanks. It depends on how many people or how much stuff you are carrying. If you have all the seats filled in a 4 seater, or alot of luggage, the only thing you can do to stay in balance and not overload the plane is to carry less fuel, so your range (time you can remain airborne) is reduced, you need to stop more often for fuel. If you overload or are out of balance, you can crash on takoff.

Answer 5

Holy cow, talk about a loaded question.
I normally pilot Cessna C-150's, C-152's & C-172's
All of those models were available, & very common in 1986. However there are many more, one of the earliest models by Cessna was the C-37 that was produced in the mid 1930's.
But Cessna has made, & still makes many different models that were flying in 1986 from the C-140 right on up to the Cessna Citation corporate jet.

I will stick to the models I am familiar with which are the C-150's, C-152's, & C-172's.
The model name for the C-150's, & 152's is "The Commuter"
The model name for the C-172 is "Skyhawk" with a fixed gear, & "The Cutlass" if it had a retractable gear
The 1980's was a bad decade for small aircraft production in America. Primarily due to skyrocketing product liability insurance costs precipitated by the outcome of a few frivilous lawsuits that were brought against Cessna, & other light aircraft manufacturers. So I believe that Cessna stopped manufacturing C-150's by the end of the 1970's, & stopped making C-152's & C-172's by the end of 1986. But resumed manufacturing C-172's sometime in the 1990's
The newest C-150 was the "M" model, & could fly as fast as 109Kts maximum speed at sea level, but we normally cruise C-150's at about 85kts indicated airspeed. The maximum range that any aircraft can be flown between fuel stops depends on a lot of variables, like wind speed, & dfirection, cruising altitude, power settings, & pilot proficiency.
All of the ranges I will quote here will be straight from the book, & will assume zero wind, standard sized fuel tanks, & will be very generalized.
To make a long story short the C-150M can cruise about 335 nautical miles.

The C-152 will normally cruise a little faster than a C-150 at about 87kts to 90kts indcated airspeed, & has an approximate range of about 315 nautical miles.

I normally cruise my C-172 at about 110kts indicated airspeed, but the book say's you can cruise at 120kts. But I like to save a little on the fuel. So with standard tanks I can get a range of about 350 nautical miles.
I make a point of fueling my C-172 with 100LL grade aviation fuel, but I have heard that C-172's are approved for Autogas, but I am not sure if there are any modifications needed before the aircraft is considered airworthy when fueled with Autogas.
I know that there are Cessna pilots safely fueling their planes with Autogas.

The C-150's & C152's are two seat aircraft, & C-172's have four seats. All three models can be easily overloaded with full fuel tanks, & all of the seats filled, & little more than a toothbrush for baggage.
I hope that answeres your question(s). I skirted around a lot of issues, & gave you some very general specifications.
Since I would have to write a book to give yiou a more detailed answer.

Answer 6

Probably the most common in 1986 would be. 120, 140, 150, 152, 170, 172, 175, 177, 180, 182, 188, 205, 206, 208, 210.
All except 208 use avgas, and it uses Jet A. Lots of the older models can get an STC(Supplemental type certificate) to use car gas. The fuel capacities and usage varies widely as the aircraft models and can be anywhere from 4 to 25 gallons per hour. The speeds run anywhere from 90 to 200 mph.
There are too many models for me to research, so type Cessna Aircraft in your browser and look them up.

Answer 7

As far as Cessnas go, The most common model is the Cessna 172 Skyhawk. It has a maximum airspeed of 163 kts or around 175 mph.
It has a total Usable fuel capacity of 53.0 US Gallons. Two fuel tanks in the wing with a total capacity of 28.0 gallons in each, 26.5 usable. It uses either 100LL or 100 Grade aviation fuel. Use of other types of fuel can damage the engine or fuel system.
Maximum Useful Load capacity: 545 lbs. (cargo)
Other Cessna single engine models include the Cessna 152, Cessna 182 Skylane.
Other small single engine aircraft include Piper Cub, Piper Archer, Piper Cherokee, Beechcraft Bonanza, Mooney, Piper Tri-Pacer. Statistics given are for Skyhawk only.

Answer 8

The instructor's job is to make sure you understand everything as soon as possible. Most instructors get their students involved in the radio communications during their first flight hour. If you are not getting the instructional services you need, talk it over with your instructor. If you didn't intend to indicate that you are now a flight student, then there are a number of ways you can learn more about aircraft communications. Do a search on the internet for "aircraft scanner" and one on "aircraft communications phraseology." You can buy a scanner and sit at your airport and listen. There is a lot that you will not understand until you become involved at least as a student pilot, but a lot of the pat phrases and concepts are things you can read about on the internet. Have fun.

Answer 9

1

Answer 10

My Cessna citation does about mach .88 @36000ft.