[2] The strutted, high wing 208 typically seats nine passengers in its unpressurized cabin, is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A tractor turboprop and has a fixed tricycle landing gear, floats, or skis.
Caravans have been used for flight training, commuter airlines, VIP transport, air cargo, skydiving and humanitarian missions.
[2] FedEx had been initially planning to build twin-engine piston-powered airplanes with Piper Aircraft, but picked the Caravan after surveying it and having flown the prototype, becoming its standard carrier.
[1] Since then, the Caravan has undergone a number of design evolutions, including upgrading the avionics in 2008 to provide a glass cockpit with the Garmin G1000 system.
[11][12] By April 2016 about 30 aircraft, assembled from kits of parts shipped from the US by Cessna, had been delivered to Chinese operators by the joint venture.
[13] The Cessna 208 is a high-wing braced cabin monoplane powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprop in tractor configuration.
[3] The short-fuselage Caravan burns 48 US gal (180 L) of fuel per hour at 170 kn (310 km/h; 200 mph) for 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) stages.
[19] On May 11, 2022, a Cessna 208 pilot became incapacitated resulting in a passenger with no flight experience successfully making an emergency landing at Palm Beach International Airport.
The plane was modified by Reliable Robotics to fly autonomously with a remote pilot able to send commands to the aircraft from 50 miles away via satellite communication to the onboard flight computers.
[34] The plane's 30-minute first flight happened from Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, on May 28, 2020, consuming US$6 worth of electricity, needing 30–40 min of charging.
[45] Certified in 100 countries, Caravans are used for flight training, recreation, commuter airlines, VIP transport, cargo carriers and humanitarian missions.
[48] Data from Cessna Textron[49]General characteristics Performance Avionics Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era