The first production Cessna 162 
SkyCatcher has arrived from Shenyang, China, and is now at the Cessna factory.
There, the plane is being reassembled and modified to incorporate design changes to the tail. The changes were the result of flight testing, specifically from the spin-testing tests following the crash of two test aircraft.
The second SkyCatcher will be shipped to Yingling Aviation in Wichita for reassembly. The first 10 aircraft will need to be modified before they’re delivered to customers. Then, the changes will have been made into the production line in China.
30 Comments
All of the people unemployed in this country and Cesssna sends the work to the Chinese…sorry Cessna, i no longer have even an ounce or respect for you or your products. You began in Wichita and Wichita people were dedicated to you for years, and you reward that by sending jobs to China. I hope your new plane turns out to be your biggest loss ever.
Coleman company is the same way,MOST of their junk is made in China..I do not buy ANY coleman products anymore.
I spend a litte more on american made hiking and camping gear and it’s better and last longer!
I have to order online some of the stuff but it’s worth it.
As for Cessna…that is a 100,000 dollar piece of junk!
I agree with you John 100 percent!
All these people that do not know any better say…”let the market dictate business” for capitalism..well capitalism worked for many decades but it has been tainted by GREED..and no longer supports this society so I no longer believe in it!
There has to be regulation involved.
For example..deregulation ruined and bankrupted the airlines and trucking in this country and will continue on to other sectors of the businesses around.
you two morons havent got a clue. would you rather pay an american $25 an hour to do the job or pay a chinese sweatshop worker $5 an hour to do the SAME job with an equal amount of skill.
greed did send the jobs to china alright. the UNIONs greed. i spent year after year after year sitting around doing NOTHING and making aircraft money. youre not gonna lie to me and say that my labor was worth that much just because im an American.
the chinese need to work too, and so long as theyre willing to do it for less then by God paying them to do it for less is the smart move. a chimpanzee could assemble those planes.
union collectivism sent your jobs to china. not capitalism. capitalism woulda been glad to save on shipping costs. but incidentally, paying chinese labor AND shipping costs is cheaper than paying union wages.
Wow, is this really true???
Are the Chinese now building our small aircrafts for us???
Or are we not getting the full story about this.
I can see aircrafts being built in a foreign country for the purpose of selling to customers in that part of the world but I hope that I am not seeing them built for the purpose of selling them here!!!
Molly McMllin, how about that you respond to this and elaborate a little more about this story?
There is NO WAY I would fly in one of those things straight off the factory floor in China till it was gone over with a fine toothed comb by a licensed A and P mechanic in the States. They have sold us faulty, hazardous and deadly products before so no reason they won’t start now and laugh as people start falling out of the sky. I’ll take my chances in a bigger, sturdier 172 than I will one of these things.
“the chinese need to work too, and so long as theyre willing to do it for less then by God paying them to do it for less is the smart move. a chimpanzee could assemble those planes.”
yeah we are stupid for wishing there were still jobs here in the usa.
i guess YOU think the chinese care if WE have jobs??
the workers in china make around 10 bucks a week. there are no safety laws. they are free to work the chinese to death. there are millions waiting in line to replace the dead workers.
it’s always the unions. that’s a dim view of reality.
hey, move to china.
ksmaez
greed did send the jobs to china alright. the UNIONs greed
–
How about the CEO’s and top management’s greed for those multi-million dollars paychecks and their obscene golden parachute retirement packages.
But, of course, you would never consider telling the CEO and his fellow corporate greedy pigs anything but ‘yes sir, how high did you say to jump’
In response to Wiseman: I’ll try to answer your question and provide some background from earlier stories. Cessna introduced the SkyCatcher in 2007 as a way to encourage more people to fly and to train pilots. The number of pilots in the U.S. declines every year. The SkyCatcher falls into the light sport category. In late 2007, Cessna officials announced the decision to build the plane in China, saying lower production costs would allow them to sell the SkyCatcher at a competitive price. As more people learn to fly, more will move up to other, larger Cessna planes, they said. The $111,500 SkyCatcher is the only plane Cessna builds in China. Does that help?
“ksmaez
Posted October 26, 2009 at 2:06 pm | Permalink
you two morons havent got a clue. would you rather pay an american $25 an hour to do the job or pay a chinese sweatshop worker $5 an hour to do the SAME job with an equal amount of skill.”
Where do you people get they make $25 an hour? LOL I hear this misinformed rumor all the time. Usually from people who have no idea what they are talking about.
totoinks
Posted October 26, 2009 at 3:17 pm | Permalink
ksmaez
greed did send the jobs to china alright. the UNIONs greed
–
How about the CEO’s and top management’s greed for those multi-million dollars paychecks and their obscene golden parachute retirement packages.
But, of course, you would never consider telling the CEO and his fellow corporate greedy pigs anything but ‘yes sir, how high did you say to jump’
Toto, how much do they make? What are their retirement packages? Judging by your statement, you know this stuff. Care to share?
You people who always trash the unions slay me. With these jobs that go to China not even minimum wage in some one-horse town in the US can compete.
So, while you are bashing the unions you need to also bash minimum wage. $7.00 per hour and no benefits cannot compete.
when i quit my job right there in wichita back in 2006 i was making just under $20/hr. that was my hourly wage. as a contractor i made as much as $28/hr (thank you greedy union workers for increasing a contractors worth.)
$25/hr is EXPECTED these days. dont pretend thats some kid of exorbitant amount. and you know whats funny?
had you split my wages in half (my $20/hr wages) you could have given a decent life to TWO wichitans instead of just one.
now because of greedy people claiming that they deserve MORE MORE MORE just because they happen to have been hired by an aircraft company. (theyre no more skilled than the next chimp) you get to watch as the chinese build the parts for a ridiculous fraction of the cost. SO RIDICULOUS A FRACTION!
that cessna can afford to ship those chinese assembled parts across the ocean ALL THE WAY over to yingling for final assembly. and have it be cheaper than paying AMERICANS good money here at home.
it hasnt anything to do with any evil ceos or cessna being unamerican. it has to do with whats practical. there is no way that they would be able to offer a flying aircraft for a $115,000 price tag had it been built strictly by american union workers.
this plane is gonna sell like hotcakes thanks to those sweatshop workers in china. the ceos know it, i know it, and you know it. you just dont want to admit it.
cotton m4. i would rather work for minimum wage than not work and look to china and mexico with jealousy in my eyes.
the unions killed the auto industry. and if theyre allowed to stay within the aviation industry then theyre gonna kill the aircraft industry to boot.
collectivism in ANY form is poison plain and simple. whether it be socialized medicine or socialized wages. it results in FAILURE every time.
when you know what it means to be an american, you know that unions are as unamerican as you can get. there is no such thing as merit in a union organization. hell, theres not even such a thing as effort. seniority and time in is the only thing that matters.
thats detrimental to the american way and the american way of thinking buddy boy. here we make what we EARN by MERIT. not take what were given because we’re senior.
because union workers wanted to double their paycheck, cessna has gone to mexico and china. thats what it boils down to and you know it.
KSMAEZ..YOU ARE A LAZY A-S-S!
I never sat around and collected money..I worked when I was in aircraft.
The Union has nothing to do with it…it’s the GREED of the company and as far as letting you sit around and do nothing thats another management issue..I would have FIRED you’re FAT LAZY A-S-S SO FAST YOU’RE HEAD WOULD SPIN!
NOW…go drop you’re frys and get another 50 hamburger pattys grilling the supper crowd is about to hit!
ksmaez!!!
When you get those hamburgers grilled get back there in the bathroom and bring a big plunger!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
You are a number 1 IDIOT and ahve NO idea what you’re babbling about!
These fools in this city are ALWAYS bashing and projecting misinformation on wages at the aircraft plants..they hear that one guy makes 20.00 an hour so they assume EVERYBODY makes 20.00 an hour.
These fools need to be complaining about the City workers in this town that make 22.25 an hour to cut grass and hold a shovel up.
Their tax money pays for them but NO tax money go’s to pay for Aircraft workers!
gto, what are you making these days eh?
why dont you take 2 seconds here. look outside your window at your boat, at your 3 cars, and all that junk youve got stockpiled in your 3 car garage. all paid for by union wages.
how many people could have eaten off the money that it took to buy those things? and you wanna tell ME about greed? there is nothing more greedy in the world than a unionized aircraft worker. not a damn thing.
you could take any burger flipper and turn him into an aircraft worker. but do you know why you couldnt turn an aircraft worker into a burger flipper?
because aircraft workers have been poisoned by COLLECTIVIST thinking. they think theyre too good to flip a burger. they think that if they flip a burger they deserve to make $20/hr and have full benefits to boot. never giving thought to what their wages do to the price of a burger.
why dont you try being a little less hysterical and think about it for a second there dumb dumb? the fact that burger flippers make minimum wage allows those evil CEOS to bring you the phenomenon known as the 99c burger.
would airplanes go for millions of dollars if union workers made less money? yes they would. but if union workers made less money, you can be guaranteed that it wouldnt be THIRTEEN THOUSAND people out of a job come layoff time.
you clowns wanna blame everybody to include china and mexico and evil money grubbing CEOs. the whole time the culprit is right there in the middle of you. making $1 more per hour than the highest paid union due paying sucker on the floor.
prior to labor laws SURE unions might have been necessary. but these days they do little more than cause JOB GIVING companies to pay twice as much for one person as they would normally pay.
who does that benefit in the long run? youre complaining about em morons! they live in chihuahua, mexico and shenyang, china!
dumbdumb, those city workers are unionized too.
for dogcatmom, i started at cessna back in 1999. i made 10.38/hr.
every 90 days i got a 25c payraise. every year i got a 4% pay increase. in fact my first year on i got 4% of my wages as a pay bonus.
not surprisingly, i went from paying NOTHING for medical benefits to paying something like $16/wk for medical benefits. (im not so stupid that i cant see the relationship between my pay raises and the cost of my insurance)
in 2003 i was laid off making @15.50/hr. when i was called back 18 mos later my pay was closer to $17/hr. and by 2006 it was pennies from being $20/ hr.
sure. you start off in aircraft making maybe 10,11,12,$13/hr. but for no reason other than that the union is demanding EXCESSES from the company just so that they (the union) can stay in business. you get raises unlike raises at any other place.
how can these idiots expect to get a 4% pay raise every contract year on top of a 4% pay raise every calendar year on top of a 4% bonus every 2nd year and not expect that eventually their jobs are going to end up south of the border? hell i used to drive an extra mile to save $.03 on gasoline prices. you wanna fault cessna for traveling to china to save MILLIONS and potentially make MILLIONS? lol!
its funny how you can see the world in front of your nose, but past that everybody else is greedy. its that kind of stupidity that got obama elected. that stupidity that says “effort is bad, handouts are good”
thats all the union is about. handouts.
It’s a shame a higher tariff couldn’t be established then there would be more incentive to keep the jobs in America. But Kansas voted for Republicans who don’t want any tariffs so more companies can go overseas for the cheaper labor (and deduct the cost of moving from their taxes).
Sounds like ksmaez would be happiest if we were making four dollars an hour. Why is there this huge desire to reduce wages for working people? Income rates for the working people have remained stagnant since the 70s while the wages for the CEOs have increased dramatically.
Looks like there are still people happy that America’s economic empire is collapsing.
there is nothing more greedy in the world than a unionized aircraft worker. not a damn thing.
___________________________________________________
Wrong. The CEO in other to management are more greedy. If you disagree, tell me why CEO’s draw 8 and 9 figure salaries. Greed.
It’s ruining America.
youre right newt! corporate greed is the bane of freedom rofl. we had better allow obama to dictate their salaries quick so that we can spread the wealth around a little bit.
are you people SERIOUS? who gets to bang the homecoming queen? the quarterback does. why is that? because the quarterback is the best. the quarterback is #1. the quarterback as top dog has EARNED IT.
those millions of dollars are the homecoming queen, that ceo is the quarterback, and you all are the fatbodies looking on with envy! do some situps! run a couple miles! get your own damn homecoming queen! this is AMERICA!
but nooo. you want a handout! thats why you cant get enough of the union. thats why CEO’s (people who have actually excelled in life) are demonized. effort is a bad thing to you “people.”
you belong in china along with your coveted jobs. do you not realize that?
I would say don’t buy a Cessna Skycatcher made in China, but now that Cessna has taught them how to make the plane, they will copy it and put Cessna out of business. Soon, China will be making the planes themselves and undercutting everyone else. Good Job!
hope it’s better quality than the auto parts they send over here..
Probably painted with lead-base paint.
“The $111,500 SkyCatcher is the only plane Cessna builds in China. Does that help?”
Thank you Molly for making that more clear.
It seems to me that Cessna is dealing with a double edge sword on this one.
They are trying to keep their cost down but at the same time to recruit more pilots but they are “Made in China”???
If that is the case, then it is not a very good plan, this would more likely to backfire on their sells as there are other manufactures to consider.
I myself have a small light sport aircraft in the works that I have purchase the rights to build and in my own opinion the best approach to learning to fly is in knowing how the aircraft is put together.
I have considered a lot on the ease of maintenance, repair and the cost of having the aircraft.
If the number of pilots is declining in the U.S, every year it is not just because of the cost of an aircraft alone, it is because of the regulations and the restrictions of the FAA.
They need to relax on some of those rules; their choke hold is what is scaring a way potential beginning pilots and customers.
And itsuckstologin, I like your comment, which is so true.
I agree completly with ksmaez. I worked in tooling Pawnee division and I never seen so many people in one area sitting around day after day doing nothing and getting paid top wages for it. Sorry but all of us in the USA have become very greedy!
“had you split my wages in half (my $20/hr wages) you could have given a decent life to TWO wichitans instead of just one”.
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ksmaez..you are the biggest idiot I have ever read on this site..you should be proud of yourself.
You are a NOTHING,probably NEVER worked at Cessna..drive a 20 year old clunker and live in a studio apartment and you think you are living large!
If you think 10.00 an hour will give you “a decent life”..I rest my case!
Go make you’re 4.00 an hour and envy the rest of so called rich making 20.00 an hour.
If we were to model a society after the GREAT STUPID ksmaez…we would have to fire ALL City workers in the forestry dept.,street repair,signal engineer.clerical, and so on.
Lets get rid of ALL the state workers..we can then import workers from Mexico and Poland to do the highway repairs for 5.00 an hour.
On to the teachers..fire all of them..there are teachers in the UK,China,Mexico,Ireland that will work for 10-15 thousand a year.
The city could replace ALL the clerical with imports from india at 3-5 dollars an hour.
NOW this will have NOTHING to do with quality you see..but we will save BILLIONS on labor cost but will have unemployment at 70 %.
Wichita, the new Detroit.
Will the last person out of Wichita please turn off the lights.