What do you get when you take Paul Bunyan out of the nort woods, force him to part with Babe the blue ox, exchange his wool shirt, boots and blue jeans for an Armani suit and bring him to a trendy cocktail party? A great-looking guy with muscles that fill the sleeves of his suit, who curses, spits on the floor, drains the entire punch bowl and, after offending everyone, staggers out with as much of the buffet as he can carry.
Fortunately for Cessna, airplanes don’t behave like humans, so when it decided to dress up one of the most successful back country, dirt strip, beat-it-up-and-haul-
anything airplanes in history, the result turned out to be refined, classy and welcome anywhere. Plus, its easy to fly and has a potty.
The original model 208 Caravan of the early 1980s was targeted at the operators of the aging DeHavilland Canada Beavers and Otters that hauled great loads at leisurely speeds. With avgas increasingly difficult to get in remote areas, the Caravan was equipped with a reliable Pratt and Whitney PT6 that fronted an airframe which, on wheels or floats, would carry a big load at twice the speed of a Beaver.
Cessna was rightfully nervous about introducing an expensive, new airplane in a cratered market, but it soon discovered a ravenous market in the overnight package business.
Upscale
The wildly successful 600-SHP 208 and 208A was stretched via fuselage plugs ahead and aft of the wing and the power upped to 675 SHP, creating the 208B. For some time, the 208Bs that left Cessna with seats rather than configured for cargo werent particularly attractive, just places to park bodies for commuter airline operations.
But a little at a time, Cessna found that individuals were asking for personal Caravans, at first for the straight 208 on amphibious floats. The thought was to put in a more attractive interior-which Cessna had been doing in twins and jets for years-and see if buyers would drop over a million bucks for a Caravan. They did.
Eventually, the Caravan line came to include four offerings: the Caravan 675 (208 with the 675-SHP engine); Amphibian (208 with 675 SHP on amphibious floats); Super Cargomaster (208B configured for cargo) and now the Grand Caravan (passenger 208B). It competes with the PC-12 and Socatas TBM line, which weve reviewed recently.
Cessnas gussied up Grand Caravan has proven so popular, that of the 80 sold in 2007, only a few were cargo haulers. Demand is so strong that Cessna is stoking up the assembly line to turn out 120 in 2008.
Details and Numbers
Current price of the Grand Caravan ranges from about $1.9 million for a generic version to $2.2 million decked out. One reason Cessna has been successful selling turbines is because of its reputation for service. Cescom, a computerized maintenance record service, is included for one year with the purchase price. The Altair Data Acquisition System and turbine tracker records engine parameters for precise monitoring. It allows for hot section inspections to be performed on condition instead of at 1800-hour intervals and boosts engine TBO from 3600 hours to 4000 hours.
Beyond the formal service arrangements, anyone who can work on turbines can work on a Caravan; Cessna has service centers all over the country and there are so many operators of Caravans that an individual owner will probably never have to