Flight Notes— how to fly the 208B Caravan.
Wherever you want to go, the Cessna Caravan can get you there. First introduced by Cessna in 1985, the Caravan was designed to land nearly anywhere, on land or water. Undoubtedly, it has lived up to its creators' intentions. Whether supplies need to be brought to a flooded village in the mountains of Peru, an injured person needs to be flown out from a remote lake in Alaska, or an archaeologist wants access to a tiny site in the African desert, the Caravan has what's needed to do the job.
In the initial design of the Caravan, Cessna took the fuselage of a Model 207 Stationair and enlarged it. However, it didn't take Cessna long to realize that in order to create a plane that provided enough cargo and fuel-carrying space, they'd have to start from close to scratch. They used sections of the 207 in the first prototype, but the ultimate design of the Caravan had no real predecessor.
Caravans have large fuel tanks and tough, sturdy landing gear to ensure the aircraft's reliability on rough, unpaved airstrips. (And that landing gear can easily be replaced with floats in order to handle water landings.) Caravans also sport large wings for quick liftoffs on short, rough runways. One hundred and seventy-four square feet of wing area provide 335 gallons of fuel capacity. The oil-only strut in the nose gear acts as a shock absorber, cushioning the engine from large loads placed onto it by the engine mounts as the airplane rolls over rocks and potholes.
The first amphibious Caravan was certified in March 1986 and was officially rolled out two months later. In the Amphibians, two large floats replace the landing gear. However, each float contains retractable landing gear, making the airplane truly amphibious. Each float can carry 200 pounds of gear inside watertight bulkhead compartments. The Amphibian also has retractable water rudders that provide maneuverability on the water and vertical fins on its horizontal stabilizer that balance the large float surface and provide more control.
The first Caravans were made-to-order for Federal Express. FedEx has continued to depend on the Caravans' reliability, flexibility, and strength to provide hundreds of small communities around the world with access to overnight delivery service.
As of 2005, more than 1500 Caravans worldwide log more than 71,000 hours per month—more than half a billion miles since the Caravan first took off.
As for the Amphibians, one of the earliest customers of the floating flyers was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. These amphibious planes gave the RCMP access to miles of rivers and lakes throughout the provinces for both law enforcement and rescue missions.208B Caravan Specifications
| U.S. | Metric | |
| Maximum Speed | 175 knots | 324 km per hour |
| Cruise Speed | 175 knots 324 km/hr at
10,000 feet 164 knots 305 km/hr at 20,000 feet |
|
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney Canada, Inc., Free Turbine. Flat Rated at 675 shaft horsepower PT6A-114A | |
| Propeller | McCauley three-bladed, constant speed, full feathering, reversible, 106-inch diameter | |
| Maximum Endurance | 5.1 hours with maximum
cruise at 10,000 feet 6.6 hours with maximum cruise at 18,000 feet 6.4 hours with maximum range at 10,000 feet 7.2 hours with maximum range at 18,000 feet |
|
| Service Ceiling | 22,800 feet | 6,950 meters |
| Fuel Capacity | 335 gallons | 1,268 liters |
| Empty Weight | 4,575 pounds | 2,075 kilograms |
| Maximum Gross Weight | 8,785 pounds | 3,980 kilograms |
| Length | 41 feet, 7 inches | 12.8 meters |
| Wingspan | 52 feet, 1 inches | 15.85 meters |
| Height | 15 feet, 5-½ inches | 4.7 meters |
| Seating | Up to 14 | |
| Useful Load | 4,000 pounds | 1,814 kilograms |