The Cessna Next Generation Propeller Aircraft (NGP) was a

proof-of-concept Proof of concept (POC or PoC), also known as proof of principle, is a realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle with the aim of verifying that some concept or theory has prac ...

design for a future family of single

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

fixed-gear A fixed-gear bicycle (or fixed-wheel bicycle, commonly known in some places as a fixie) is a bicycle that has a drivetrain with no freewheel mechanism. The freewheel was developed early in the history of bicycle design but the fixed-gear bicy ...

, high

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, light aircraft intended for personal,

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

and commercial use. The single flying

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

, registered N99110, was flight tested 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 ...

, and first seen publicly in flight on 24 July 2006 at

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin ...

Nomenclature

The aircraft was originally introduced as the "Next Generation Piston", but starting in April 2008 Cessna began referring to it as the "Next Generation Propeller" aircraft instead. After absorbing the recently purchased Columbia Aircraft line, now known as the

Cessna 350 The Cessna 350 Corvalis is a composite construction, single-engine, normally aspirated, fixed-gear, low-wing general aviation aircraft that was built by Cessna Aircraft until the end of 2010. The aircraft was formerly built by Columbia Aircr ...

and

Cessna 400 The Cessna 400, marketed as the Cessna TTx, is a single-engine, fixed-gear, low-wing general aviation aircraft built from composite materials by Cessna Aircraft. The Cessna 400 was originally built by Columbia Aircraft as the Columbia 400 un ...

, Cessna indicated that it was re-positioning the NGP to fit logically into its current aircraft fleet. "Our team is working on finalizing the configuration," said Van Abel, Cessna's project engineer for the NGP in April 2008. “We continue to evaluate features and materials that will produce a new, unique aircraft family with a potential for multiple powerplants.” This indicates that the aircraft may become turbine or diesel powered so as not to conflict with sales of the 350 and 400.

Design and development

Very little information was made public about the aircraft since development began sometime in early 2005. Cessna confirmed that the NGP was designed specifically to compete with other, newer aircraft. Due to its intended role as competition for the

Cirrus SR22 The Cirrus SR22 is a single-engine four- or five-seat composite aircraft built from 2001 by Cirrus Aircraft of Duluth, Minnesota. It is a development of the Cirrus SR20, with a larger wing, higher fuel capacity, and a more powerful, 310-horsep ...

, it was frequently referred to in the aviation press as the "Cirrus Killer". The NGP

mock-up In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale model, scale or physical model, full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''protot ...

displayed at

AOPA The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is a Frederick, Maryland-based American non-profit political organization that advocates for general aviation. AOPA's membership consists mainly of general aviation pilots in the United States ...

Air Expo 2006, in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

, had five seats. The aircraft was, at that time, intended be powered by a

Lycoming IO-580 The Lycoming IO-580 engine is a horizontally opposed, six-cylinder aircraft engine featuring three cylinders per side, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. There is no carburetted version of the engine, which would have been designated O-580 and ...

FADEC A full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) is a system consisting of a digital computer, called an "electronic engine controller" (EEC) or "engine control unit" (ECU), and its related accessories that control all aspects of ai ...

engine controlled by a single power lever. The design mock-up had four doors with a separate baggage door on the left side,

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

with a

caster A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved. Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, t ...

ing nose wheel and a forward-swept high-mounted wing of relatively small area. Reportedly the prototype accumulated more than 20 hours of flying time between its first flight on 23 June 2006 and the fly-by at Oshkosh on 24 July 2006. During its appearance at AirVenture it was fully painted in a factory-style paint scheme and sported wheelpants. The structure was made from

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

s and

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

, optimizing the available technology. Cessna President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Jack Pelton Jack J. Pelton is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and the former CEO of the Cessna Aircraft Company, a subsidiary of Textron Inc (and now a brand of Textron Aviation). Before becoming Cessna's ...

confirmed at AirVenture 2006 that the NGP was intended at that time to be the first of a new family of Cessna singles that would, in the long term, replace 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.

and 182 in production. Pelton also confirmed that while the prototype flew with a Lycoming powerplant, Cessna was examining alternative new technology engines as well. The prototype was exhibited at the April 2007

Sun 'n Fun Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo (officially styled SUN 'n FUN) is a nonprofit organization in Lakeland, Florida dedicated to the promotion of aviation education. It is best known for the annual week-long fly-in and airshow at Lakeland Linder Intern ...

general aviation event held at

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

. On 27 November 2007, Cessna purchased Columbia Aircraft from bankruptcy for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

26.4M including its Columbia 350 and 400 line, which are in the same size and performance class as the NGP. These were introduced into the Cessna line as the

and

and initially built at former Columbia factory in

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 ...

. In 2009, Cessna closed the Bend plant and moved production to Wichita. The introduction of the similar Columbia designs caused media speculation that this would spell the end of the NGP project, but on September 26, 2007, Cessna Vice President for Sales, Roger Whyte confirmed that development of the Cessna NGP project was continuing, regardless of the purchase of Columbia. In January 2009, Cessna CEO Jack Pelton gave an update on current Cessna projects under development and mentioned the 162 SkyCatcher,

Cessna Citation Columbus The Cessna Citation Columbus was a business jet project by Cessna, part of the Cessna Citation family. The Model 850 was launched in February 2008 and cancelled in July 2009. It would have been the largest model of the family at the time. Pow ...

and the Citation CJ4. No mention of the NGP project was made and the project's webpage was deleted. On 30 March 2011, at

Cessna President Jack Pelton was interviewed by Paul Bertorelli of ''AvWeb'' about the NGP project and he indicated that it was "inactive but not mothballed" at that time, awaiting the right engine and avionics combination. By August 2011, the prototype was no longer on the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

registry.

Specifications

Citations

References

Avweb article on the NGPCirrus SR22 performance parametersCirrus SR22 pricing information
* Benenson, Tom, (Editor), Flying Magazine, Oct 2006, pg 21, ''NGP Means "Next Generation Piston"''
Cessna press release announcing the NGP
- accessed 16 October 2006

External links