The Cessna 177 Cardinal is a light single-engine, high-wing

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

produced by

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...

. It was intended to replace the

Cessna 172 Skyhawk The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.Christy, Joe: ''The Complete Guide to the Single-Engine Cessnas - 3rd Edition'', pages 54-61. TAB Books, 1979. Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 25. Werner & Werner Corp Publishing, 1978.

Development

The Cessna 177 was designed in the mid-1960s when the engineers at Cessna were asked to create a "futuristic 1970s successor to the

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

". The resulting aircraft featured newer technology such as a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

wing lacking the

lift strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s of previous models, and a new

laminar flow airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

. The 177 is the only production high-wing single-engined Cessna since the Cessna 190 & 195 series to have both fixed landing gear and a cantilever wing without strut bracing. In 1971, Cessna experimented with a "Quiet Cardinal" similar to the

Beechcraft QU-22 Pave Eagle The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. The six-seater, single-engined aircraft is still being produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous prod ...

. A test model was flown with a

Wankel engine The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an Eccentric (mechanism), eccentric rotary combustion engine, rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and desi ...

with a large three bladed 100 inch diameter propeller with a belt driven gear reduction unit and a fuselage-length exhaust canted upward. The 1968 model 177 was introduced in late 1967 with a 150 hp (112 kW) engine. One of the design goals of this 172 replacement was to allow the pilot an unobstructed view when making a turn. In the 172 the pilot sits under the wing and when the wing is lowered to begin a turn that wing blocks the pilot's view of where the turn will lead to. The engineers resolved this problem by placing the pilot forward of the wing's leading edge, but that led to a too-far-forward center of gravity. This problem was partially counteracted by the decision to use the significantly lighter

Lycoming O-320 The Lycoming O-320 is a large family of naturally aspirated, air-cooled, four-cylinder, direct-drive engines produced by Lycoming Engines. They are commonly used on light aircraft such as the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee. Different variants ...

four-cylinder engine in place of the six-cylinder O-300 Continental used on the 172. The forward CG situation still existed even with the lighter engine, so a

stabilator A stabilator is a fully movable aircraft horizontal stabilizer. It serves the usual functions of longitudinal stability, control and stick force requirements otherwise performed by the separate parts of a conventional horizontal stabilizer and el ...

was chosen, to provide sufficient elevator control authority at low airspeeds. The 177 design was intended to be a replacement for the 172, which was to be discontinued after introduction of the new aircraft. The new design was originally to be called the 172J (to follow the 1968 model 172I). However, as the time came to make the transition, there was considerable resistance to the replacement of the 172 from the company's Marketing Division. The 1969 172 jumped to the designator 172K—there is no 172J.Cessna Pilots Association
"177/177RG Model History", September 1, 2006Cessna Pilots Association
"172 Model History", January 30, 2009 The 177 offers much better upward visibility than a 172 because of its steeply raked windshield and more aft-mounted wing. The absence of an obstructing wing support strut also makes the aircraft an excellent platform for aerial photography.

Performance and handling problems

Soon after delivery of the first Cardinals to customers there were reported incidents of

pilot-induced oscillation Pilot-induced oscillations (PIOs), as defined by MIL-HDBK-1797A, are ''sustained or uncontrollable oscillations resulting from efforts of the pilot to control the aircraft''. They occur when the pilot of an aircraft inadvertently commands an oft ...

(PIO) that alarmed Cessna enough that the factory initiated a priority program to eliminate the problem. Reviewer Joe Christy explains: The solution, which was provided to all aircraft already delivered at no cost, was known as Operation "Cardinal Rule" and included a series of 23 inspection, installation, and modification instructions. This Service Letter, SE68-14, consisted of modifying the stabilator to install slots just behind the leading edge (to delay the onset of stabilator stall) and installing full counterbalance (11 pounds versus the original 7 pounds) on the stabilator to eliminate the PIO problem.Thomas A. Horne, "The Cardinals"
AOPA Pilot
March 1982, pages 32-42 Cessna177C-FQEK

The 177, with its 150 hp (112 kW) powerplant, was considered "underpowered", even though it had more power than the 145 hp (108 kW) Cessna 172.

Cessna 177A

Recognizing that the aircraft was underpowered, Cessna introduced the 177A in 1969. The revision featured a 180 hp (135 kW) four-cylinder

Lycoming O-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 produc ...

, moving the design's price and role somewhere between that of the 172 and

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. The additional power improved cruise speed by 11 knots (20 km/h). Cessna177BCardinal01

Cessna 177B

1970 saw the introduction of the 177B, which had a new wing

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

, a

constant-speed propeller In aeronautics, a variable-pitch propeller is a type of propeller (airscrew) with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change the blade pitch. A controllable-pitch propeller is one where the pitch is controlled manually by the p ...

, and other minor improvements. When empty, the 177B weighed 145 lb (66 kg) more than the earlier 177, with its maximum takeoff weight increased from 2,350 lb (1,067 kg) to 2,500 lb (1,135 kg). In 1978, Cessna built a deluxe version of the 177B, the Cardinal Classic, with leather upholstery, a table for the rear passengers, and a 28-Volt electrical system. Cessna177RGCardinalRG01

Cessna 177RG

The final aircraft in the 177 line was the retractable-gear 177RG Cardinal RG, which Cessna began producing in 1970. Both the nose-wheel and main wheels retract rearwards, with the nose-wheel enclosed by doors when retracted. To offset the increase in empty weight, much of which was from the electrically powered

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

gear mechanism, the 177RG had a

Lycoming IO-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 producing ...

engine. This also allowed increase of the maximum weight by 300 lbs. The additional power and cleaner lines of the 177RG resulted in a cruise speed of , faster than the 177B. 1,543 177RGs were delivered between the US and Reims, Cessna's licensed partner in France. Those built in France by Reims were referred to as the Reims F177RG.

Notable accidents and incidents

*On 23 October 1968,

Alben Truitt Elbling is a variety of white grape (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which today is primarily grown in the upstream parts of the Mosel region in Germany and in Luxembourg, where the river is called Moselle. The variety has a long history, and used t ...

, the grandson of former U.S. Vice President

Alben Barkley Alben William Barkley (; November 24, 1877 – April 30, 1956) was an American lawyer and politician from Kentucky who served in both houses of Congress and as the 35th vice president of the United States from 1949 to 1953 under Presiden ...

, hijacked a Cessna 177 from Key West to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. He returned via Canada in February 1969 and was sentenced to 20 years for aircraft piracy and 20 years for kidnapping (to run consecutively).Cuban Political Violence in the United States
Disorders and terrorism, National Advisory Committee, on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals Washington: 1976. Report of the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism Appendix 6: Chronology of incidents of terroristic, quasi-terroristic attacks, and political violence in the United States:January 1965 to March 1976 By Marcia McKnight Trick *On 11 April 1996, a Cessna 177B carrying 7-year-old

Jessica Dubroff Jessica Whitney Dubroff (May 5, 1988 – April 11, 1996) was a seven-year-old American trainee pilot who died while attempting to become the youngest person to fly a light aircraft across the United States. On day two of her quest, the Cessna 1 ...

, her

certified flight instructor A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...

and her father, crashed after takeoff from Cheyenne Airport in

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistical ...

, killing all on board. Dubroff was attempting to set a cross-country record for young pilots, although her instructor was thought to have been at the controls at the time of the accident. No defect in the aircraft itself was found. The accident resulted in general public concern and new Federal legislation banning record attempts by non-holders of private pilot or higher certificates. *On 30 July 1998, a Cessna 177RG Cardinal collided with

Proteus Airlines Flight 706 Proteus Airlines Flight 706 was a scheduled commuter flight from Lyon, France to Lorient, France. On July 30, 1998, the Beechcraft 1900D operating the flight collided in mid-air with a Cessna 177 over Quiberon Bay. This accident was known as Qu ...

, a

Beechcraft 1900D The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With c ...

which deviated over

Quiberon Bay Quiberon Bay (french: Baie de Quiberon) is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département. Geography The bay is roughly triangular in shape, open to the south with the Gulf of Morbihan to t ...

from its planned approach to

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, to give its passengers and crew a better view of the

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

. Both aircraft crashed into the bay, killing all 14 people on board the Beechcraft and the sole occupant of the Cessna 177RG. *On 14 March 2003, a Cessna 177 Cardinal crashed into Old Fort Mountain near Old Fort,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, after taking off from

Asheville Regional Airport Asheville Regional Airport is a Class C airport near Interstate 26 near the town of Fletcher, south of downtown Asheville, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, United States. It is owned by the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority. Th ...

in Asheville, North Carolina. The crash killed author Amanda Davis, who was on a book tour promoting her first novel ''Wonder When You'll Miss Me'', and her parents.

Specifications (Cessna 177B)

References

External links

* {{Cessna

177 Year 177 ( CLXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Plautius (or, less frequently, year 930 ''Ab urbe co ...

High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft 1960s United States civil utility aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1967