Meet Cessna 162 Skycatcher
The Skycatcher combines a two-seat high-wing airframe with under-panel control sticks. Cessna’s handbook explains that these move like floor-mounted sticks while leaving the cabin easier to enter. Cables and mechanical linkages operate the ailerons, elevator and rudder, with spring loading in the rudder system.
Electric pitch trim acts through a tab on the right elevator. A switch on the stick commands an elevator-mounted servo, and the Garmin G300 displays the trim position. The same handbook identifies optional automatic-flight equipment separately from the standard flight and engine displays.
History & design
A new light-sport trainer reaches production
By January 2010, Cessna's two-seat Skycatcher was entering production after a development programme that changed its tail and aileron travel. Alton Marsh flew the aircraft Cessna called its first production example, incorporating changes made after spin-test accidents. A ventral fin, extended rudder and reduced aileron travel were part of that revision. The published account concerns the revised early production design; it does not make the aircraft approved for intentional spins.
Alton K. Marsh / AOPA · Fun at Mach 0.162 ↗Systems & details
Under-panel sticks and tab trim
The manufacturer handbook describes the mechanical surface-control path, the stick’s cabin placement and the electric servo driving the right-elevator trim tab. Rudder pedals also provide toe-brake control.
Pilot accounts
“”
Marsh found the aircraft stable, with sensitive, responsive controls and light stick forces during the landing flare. He reported that it was slow to decelerate and that the castering nosewheel took practice. His account gives useful context for the combination of light control loading, electric trim and modest approach speeds.
Early production Cessna 162; AOPA flight report, January 2010.
Read the full account · Alton K. Marsh / AOPA ↗In your simulator
No released simulator product is listed for this aircraft in the developers reviewed. Announced products are excluded.
Manuals & resources
Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Developer documentation
Cockspur C162 Skycatcher – Cockspurcockspur.eu · Aircraft equipment and developer product details. Cessna Model 162 Pilot’s Operating Handbookwww.aeroelectric.com · Cessna 162 handbook, airplane/system description pp. 2-3 to 2-10.Aircraft documentation
Fun at Mach 0.162Alton K. Marsh / AOPA · Alton K. Marsh, January 2010 flight report on the early production Skycatcher.Built-in force-feedback profiles
Read the documentary basis, editable starting settings and remaining questions for the aircraft you fly. Each explanation refers to the exact profile revision shown.
Catalogue programme-20261011-v3 · 2 profile choices
Cockspur C162 Skycatcher
Cockspur · Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2020
The Skycatcher combines a two-seat high-wing airframe with under-panel control sticks.
Cessna 162 Skycatcher
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 12
The Skycatcher combines a two-seat high-wing airframe with under-panel control sticks.
Discuss this aircraft (0)
Questions, observations and useful sources from the community.
No published discussions yet. Bring a question or share a useful source.
Open aircraft discussions →Something missing or a source that needs attention?
Suggest a correction ↗