The Power of Words. Cessna 182 aircraft has good safety record

9/8/97
Cessna 182 aircraft has good safety record
The plane that crashed in Smithfield had no mechanical problems before the accident, says Peter Wolfe, owner of the company that operated it.

By TIMOTHY C. BARMANN
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer

        The Cessna 182 Skylane, the plane that crashed killing five of its six occupants on Saturday in Smithfield, is one of the most popular light airplanes and has a good safety record, according to an expert on the aircraft.
        "It has a reputation for being able to carry a good load. It has a good safety record," said John M. Frank, executive director of the Cessna Pilots Association, based in Santa Maria, Calif. The organization provides technical information on Cessna airplanes to some 10,000 members. Frank is also author of the book, Cessna 182 Buyer's Guide.
        "There were some problems with the fuel system on the airplane where it was possible to get water contamination in the fuel system," he said. However, that problem was corrected in 1984.
        The Cessna 182 that crashed in Smithfield on Saturday had no mechanical problems before the crash, said Peter Wolfe, owner of the Boston-Providence Skydiving Center, the company that operated the plane. It was owned by Adventure Air, according to the state police. The aircraft was manufactured in 1962.
        Wolfe said the plane had flown earlier in the day, and another flight had been planned for later that afternoon or early evening.
        The Cessna 182 is made by the Cessna Aircraft Co. in Wichita, Kan. The company is a subsidiary of Textron, the Providence-based conglomerate.
        Some 19,000 of the planes have been made, making it the third-most- popular general aviation aircraft of all time, Frank said. It is commonly used as a plane for parachute jumping.
        The Cessna company made the airplane from 1956 until 1986. That year, it ceased production of all single-engine aircraft because of soaring costs from lawsuits stemming from plane crashes.
        Production resumed last year after a 1994 law was passed limiting a manufacturer's liability in small-engine airplane crashes. The law, called the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, prohibits an airplane maker from being named as a defendant in lawsuits involving crashes of single-engine planes more than 18 years old.
        The first new Cessna 182 rolled off the assembly line in April of this year. According to Cessna's World Wide Web site, the new 182 sells for $190,600. Used models sell for considerably less.
        The 182 was designed to seat four people, including the pilot. But when used for skydiving, three of the seats, as well as the right door to the plane, are usually removed, according to Frank.
        The Cessna that crashed Saturday did have three seats removed, according to Jim Cain, air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. The plane had a modified door that could be opened in flight, according to Wolfe. The right-hand control yoke also had been removed, Wolfe said.
        It is legal to fly with as many people as the cabin can hold, as long as there are seat belts for everyone aboard, and the weight of the plane doesn't exceed its limit, Frank said.
        The weight that the 182 can carry varies slightly, depending on the precise model, but Frank said it is generally about 1,000 to 1,100 pounds.
        Usually, not more than six people can fit in the plane because the cabin is small. The interior dimensions of the cabin of the new 182s, which are identical to the older models on the outside, are about 11 feet long by 3 1/2 feet wide, and 4 feet high.
        With five skydivers aboard, two typically sit behind the pilot and three sit to the right of the pilot, according to Cain of the NTSB.
        There were 399 accidents involving the Cessna 182 from 1992 through July 1997, according to the NTSB Accident/Incident database. That is out of 38,500 total accidents and incidents the database catalogs.
        An eerily similar accident occurred only a week ago in Bremerton, Wash. In that accident, all five people aboard a Cessna 182 were killed when it crashed shortly after takeoff, according to the Seattle Times. The plane crashed into a ravine just after takeoff and burst into flames on impact. The four passengers were all skydivers. The victims ranged in age from 19 to 57.
With reports from staff writer Jonathan D. Rockoff.

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