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Meet the aircraft
The 188 family is quite different from the high-wing touring singles usually associated with Cessna. A low wing and working-load hopper serve its agricultural purpose, while the pilot sits high behind the engine and load area. Production ran from the 1960s into the early 1980s. Agwagon, Agtruck and related names identify developments within the family.
Aircraft background
Wikipedia contributors · Read more ↗A rushed departure turns a hot working day into a close call
Delanghe remembered a demanding day treating canola fields during an insect infestation. When the wind briefly dropped, tired pilots returned to work under pressure to help farmers whose crops were deteriorating. Reloading and departing quickly, he missed a flap setting and failed to appreciate how much hotter the afternoon had become.
AgAir Update retrospective · September 2025. Cessna 188 AgTruck in southern Saskatchewan; the author’s recollection, with no independently established incident findings attached.
AgAir Update · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Watford AeroService · 13 min ·
First Time Flying A Crop Duster Alone | Cessna 188 AgTruck Solo Flight Experience
A trainee's first solo flight in a Cessna 188 agricultural aircraft.
Real aircraft · Cessna 188 AGTruck
Watch on YouTube ↗Preview images are served by AirframeDB. Videos open on YouTube only when you choose to watch.
Meet Cessna 188 AGTruck
The 188 family is quite different from the high-wing touring singles usually associated with Cessna. A low wing and working-load hopper serve its agricultural purpose, while the pilot sits high behind the engine and load area. Production ran from the 1960s into the early 1980s.
Agwagon, Agtruck and related names identify developments within the family. The simulated Agtruck represents this agricultural branch and its mission equipment.
Cessna 188 AGTruck
Cessna → · Explore the family →
Cessna 188 AGTruck
Wikipedia contributors · Cessna 188 ↗Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024 →Aircraft type designators
Use the code for the model you are flying. The linked authority lists the applicable aircraft.
History & design
Development milestones
First flight: February 19, 1965
Wikipedia contributors · Cessna 188 ↗Cessna 188 · family/variant named by the source · Wikipedia revision 1303288571
Pilot accounts
A rushed departure turns a hot working day into a close call
Delanghe remembered a demanding day treating canola fields during an insect infestation. When the wind briefly dropped, tired pilots returned to work under pressure to help farmers whose crops were deteriorating. Reloading and departing quickly, he missed a flap setting and failed to appreciate how much hotter the afternoon had become.
A pickup turning onto the gravel departure road suddenly made the aircraft’s sluggish acceleration critical. He recalled clearing it by a small margin after correcting the flap setting, then returning from the spraying job shaken by the experience. Looking back, he connected the episode with fatigue, haste and inadequate attention to conditions.
AgAir Update retrospective · September 2025. Cessna 188 AgTruck in southern Saskatchewan; the author’s recollection, with no independently established incident findings attached.
Read the full account · AgAir Update ↗Helping load an aircraft leads to a different working life
McClary grew up in a farming family and initially hoped to play professional baseball. After an injury redirected his plans, farming became his work, but helping a friend load Cessna 188s introduced another possibility. An interest in aviation developed into pilot certificates and long conversations about learning the agricultural business.
He began flying a Cessna 188 for Henry Haddock’s operation. The first year included difficult encounters with power lines, and the report describes him learning from those experiences and continuing with the company. Aircraft types and business arrangements changed over the following years, but the Cessna period remained the beginning of his ag-flying career. Later, he would mentor another newcomer as others had once helped him.
Graham Lavender, AgAir Update · August 2024. McClary recalls starting agricultural flying in the Cessna 188 family with Henry Haddock; later Air Tractor and helicopter work is separate.
Read the full account · AgAir Update ↗A pilot records what he could and could not explain
Christensen’s statement describes preparing for an agricultural departure after flying from the same field the previous day. He reviewed the work with the operator, checked the aircraft and began the takeoff with a load in the hopper. During the climb, he believed he would clear the obstacles ahead.
Near the end of the field, he recalled losing height before the aircraft struck a power line and came down. Spray mixture obscured the windshield, leaving him unable to describe the subsequent impact precisely. His written account distinguishes what he remembered from what he could only guess, including which part of the aircraft contacted the wire. It provides the pilot’s own account of the event, with those limits on his observations intact.
Personal statement in the NTSB public docket, dated August 2015. Cessna 188 N731MB accident on 25 July at Albertson, North Carolina; his recollection is not the investigation’s probable-cause finding.
Read the full account · NTSB public docket ↗In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
MSFS 2024188 AGTruck
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
188 AGTruck
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Aircraft specifications
Published figures for the named real-aircraft variant. Simulator equipment and performance can differ.
| Specification | Published value |
|---|---|
| Length | 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) |
| Wingspan | 41 ft 8 in (12.70 m) |
| Height | 7 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (2.350 m) |
| Wing area | 205 sq ft (19.0 m² ) |
| Empty weight | 2,059 lb (934 kg) (with no dispersal equipment installed) |
| Gross weight | 3,300 lb (1,497 kg) |
| Max takeoff weight | 4,200 lb (1,905 kg) |
| Powerplant | 1 × Continental IO-520-D air-cooled flat-six , 300 hp (220 kW) |
| Propellers | 2-bladed McCauley metal constant-speed propeller |
| Maximum speed | 121 mph (195 km/h, 105 kn) |
| Cruise speed | 113 mph (182 km/h, 98 kn) (75% power) |
| Stall speed | 57 mph (92 km/h, 50 kn) (with full flaps) ( CAS ) |
| Range | 295 mi (475 km, 256 nmi) |
| Service ceiling | 11,100 ft (3,400 m) |
| Rate of climb | 690 ft/min (3.5 m/s) |
Manuals & resources
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Pilot account
A rushed departure turns a hot working day into a close callAgAir Update retrospective · September 2025. Cessna 188 AgTruck in southern Saskatchewan; the author’s recollection, with no independently established incident findings attached.
Delanghe remembered a demanding day treating canola fields during an insect infestation. When the wind briefly dropped, tired pilots returned to work under pressure to help farmers whose crops were deteriorating. Reloading and departing quickly, he missed a flap setting and failed to appreciate how much hotter the afternoon had become. A pickup turning onto the gravel departure road suddenly made the aircraft’s sluggish acceleration critical.
Ted Delanghe
AgAir Update · Read the source ↗Helping load an aircraft leads to a different working lifeGraham Lavender, AgAir Update · August 2024. McClary recalls starting agricultural flying in the Cessna 188 family with Henry Haddock; later Air Tractor and helicopter work is separate.
McClary grew up in a farming family and initially hoped to play professional baseball. After an injury redirected his plans, farming became his work, but helping a friend load Cessna 188s introduced another possibility. An interest in aviation developed into pilot certificates and long conversations about learning the agricultural business. He began flying a Cessna 188 for Henry Haddock’s operation.
Guy McClary
AgAir Update · Read the source ↗Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Manual
Microsoft Flight Simulator aircraft manualsMicrosoft / aircraft developersAircraft background
Cessna 188Wikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1303288571 · retrieved 2026-09-12Resource
MSFS 2024 FAQ and edition aircraft inventoryMicrosoftType designator
ICAO Doc 8643 — aircraft type designatorsInternational Civil Aviation Organization · Public search data retrieved 2026-09-14; authority update 2026-09-03Built-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-20261022-v1 · 1 profile choice
Cessna 188 AGTruck
Free and Pro · Revision 2 · Partial review
MSFS 2024
Cessna 188 AGTruck: The agricultural aircraft's nominal manual-control response is independent of the constant-speed propeller cue.
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