Cessna 172 Skyhawk

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing airplane built by Cessna (now part of Textron Aviation). First flown in the mid-1950s and delivered from 1956, it has been produced in larger numbers than any other aircraft, with more than 44,000 built across its production run — a figure no other airplane has matched.

The 172 grew out of the earlier tail-wheel Cessna 170 by adding tricycle landing gear, which places the third wheel under the nose rather than the tail. That single change made the airplane dramatically easier to take off, land, and taxi, and it is a large part of why the type became the standard primary trainer at flight schools worldwide.

Its enduring appeal comes from a combination of traits that suit a learning environment: a high wing that gives good downward visibility and shades the cabin, docile low-speed handling, predictable stall behavior, and a robust airframe. Production paused in the mid-1980s amid U.S. product-liability pressures and resumed in 1996 with the restyled 172R and 172S models, which remain in production today.

The 172 has been refined across many model letters rather than redesigned. A reader encounters the names most often at the flight line, so it helps to know how they map to one another. The major families are:

• Early straight-tail models (172, 172A–172D, 1956–early 1960s): the original carbureted Continental-powered airplanes, distinguished by an upright vertical fin.
• Swept-tail and "Skyhawk" era (172E onward, 1960s–1970s): introduced the swept vertical tail and the deluxe "Skyhawk" trim that later became the name for the whole line. Engine power crept upward over these letters.
• 172N / 172P (late 1970s–1980s): high-production training models, many of which still fill flight-school ramps. The 172P added a higher gross weight and detail refinements before the 1986 production pause.
• 172R (1996–): the "new-production" Skyhawk reintroduced after the production gap, powered by a fuel-injected Lycoming IO-360 derated to 160 horsepower.
• 172S Skyhawk SP (1998–): the same airframe with the IO-360 rated to its full 180 horsepower, giving better takeoff and climb performance. Most modern glass-cockpit trainers are 172S airplanes.

A turbocharged retractable-gear development, the Cessna 172RG Cutlass, and the diesel-powered 172 Skyhawk JT-A were also produced in smaller numbers. The figures in the specification table below describe the modern 172R and 172S, the variants a student is most likely to train in.