The Cessna 350 Corvalis is a composite construction, single-engine, normally aspirated, fixed-gear, low-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 that was built 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 ...

Aircraft until the end of 2010. The aircraft was formerly built by Columbia Aircraft and called the Columbia 350 until late 2007.

Design and development

Columbia 300

Developed as the Model LC40-550FG (for ''

Lancair Lancair International, Inc. (pronounced ''"lance-air"'') is a U.S. manufacturer of general aviation aircraft kits. They are well known for their series of high-performance single-engine aircraft that offer cruise speeds that surpass many t ...

Certified, Model 40, Continental 550 engine, Fixed Gear'') and marketed under the name Columbia 300, the aircraft was

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

on September 18, 1998. Deliveries began in February 2000. The 300 is powered by a Teledyne Continental Model IO-550-N engine of 310 horsepower (230 kW) at 2700 rpm. The aircraft's maximum takeoff weight is 3400 lb (1542 kg) and the maximum landing weight is 3230 lb (1465 kg). The 300 has a certified airframe life of 25,200 flight hours.

Columbia 350

The Columbia 300 was upgraded with a

glass cockpit A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic (digital) flight instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, rather than the traditional style of analog dials and gauges. While a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mech ...

and other improvements developed for the turbocharged Columbia 400. It was certified on March 30, 2003 as the Model LC42-550FG (for ''

Certified, Model 42, Continental 550 engine, Fixed Gear'') and marketed as the Columbia 350. Like the 300, the 350 is powered by a Teledyne Continental IO-550-N powerplant producing 310 horsepower (230 kW) at 2700 rpm. The 350 has the same takeoff and landing weights as the 300; maximum takeoff weight is 3400 lb (1542 kg) and the maximum landing weight is 3230 lb (1465 kg). Like the 300 and 400, the 350 has a certified airframe life of 25,200 flight hours. Initially sold simply as the Cessna 350, the aircraft was given the marketing name ''Corvalis'' by Cessna on 14 January 2009. The name is a derivation of the town of

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

, which is west of the

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...

, location of the Cessna plant that built the aircraft, prior to closing the plant and relocating production to

Independence, Kansas Independence is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,548. It was named in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence. History Independence w ...

, in 2009. In April 2009, Cessna announced that it would close the Bend, Oregon factory where the Cessna 350 was produced and move production to Independence, Kansas, with the composite construction moved to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The production line was restarted in October 2009 at the Cessna Independence paint facility, initially at a rate of one aircraft in six months. This was to allow the new workers, plus the 30 employees transferred from Bend, to gain experience and also allow Cessna the opportunity to retail its unsold inventory of Cessna 350s and 400s. The company had anticipated moving the 350/400 production into a permanent facility by the end of 2009. In December 2010, a Cessna 400 that was being test flown at the factory developed a fuel leak, the cause of which was determined to be that the aircraft had "suffered a significant structural failure in the wing during a production acceptance flight test. The wing skin disbonded from the upper forward wing spar. The length of the disbond was approximately 7 feet." As a result, the FAA issued an Emergency

Airworthiness Directive An Airworthiness Directive (commonly abbreviated as AD) is a notification to owners and operators of certified aircraft that a known safety deficiency with a particular model of aircraft, engine, avionics or other system exists and must be correct ...

affecting seven Cessna 400s and one 350, all on the production line. The AD did not affect any customer aircraft in service, but did delay deliveries. In March 2011, Cessna announced that the model was out of production and removed marketing information from its website.

Specifications (Cessna 350)

References

External links

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