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Meet the aircraft
Textron launched the SkyCourier programme with FedEx as an important initial customer. The design is arranged around straightforward utility work: fixed landing gear, two wing-mounted turboprops and a large, boxy cabin. Passenger and freight configurations serve different operators. It is a useful modern counterpart to the single-engine Caravan.
Aircraft background
Wikipedia contributors · Read more ↗The first crew completes the planned work in a new aircraft
Eckhart and Tobias took the SkyCourier prototype from Beech Field for its first flight, spending more than two hours assessing the aircraft and its systems. Afterwards, Eckhart particularly praised the steadiness of its takeoff and landing behaviour. He was pleased that the crew had completed everything planned for the outing. The flight began a larger programme involving additional aircraft and ground test equipment.
Textron Aviation report · May 2020. Shared first-flight account, with Eckhart’s quoted impressions; Tobias’s presence does not create a second independent account.
Textron Aviation · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Tasty Sandwiches · 12 min ·
Flying the Cessna 408 SkyCourier - Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
A cockpit tour and cargo flight in the MSFS 2024 SkyCourier.
Simulator · Cessna SkyCourier · MSFS 2024
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Meet Cessna 408 SkyCourier
Textron launched the SkyCourier programme with FedEx as an important initial customer. The design is arranged around straightforward utility work: fixed landing gear, two wing-mounted turboprops and a large, boxy cabin. Passenger and freight configurations serve different operators.
Compared with Cessna's single-engine Caravan, the SkyCourier has two engines, a larger cabin and its own systems.
Cessna 408 SkyCourier
Cessna → · Explore the family →
Cessna 408 SkyCourier
Wikipedia contributors · Cessna 408 SkyCourier ↗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
An engineering simulator helps refine the aircraft
Horne visited Textron’s SkyCourier iron bird with test pilot Todd Dafforn. Its cockpit connects to representative controls, actuators and computers so engineers can compare predictions with flight-test data. Horne’s hands-on session took place in this ground testbed; it is not counted as a flight in the aircraft.
AOPA Pilot · Iron Bird: SkyCourier’s iron testbed ↗AOPA’s laboratory visit, March 2022
Development milestones
First flight: May 17, 2020
Wikipedia contributors · Cessna 408 SkyCourier ↗Cessna 408 SkyCourier · family/variant named by the source · Wikipedia revision 1372140916
Pilot accounts
The first crew completes the planned work in a new aircraft
Eckhart and Tobias took the SkyCourier prototype from Beech Field for its first flight, spending more than two hours assessing the aircraft and its systems. Afterwards, Eckhart particularly praised the steadiness of its takeoff and landing behaviour. He was pleased that the crew had completed everything planned for the outing.
The flight began a larger programme involving additional aircraft and ground test equipment. Textron’s accompanying account also recognised the employees and suppliers who had kept preparation moving during the disruption of the pandemic. For the first crew, the favourable handling and completed test work provided an encouraging starting point. Their comments describe that initial prototype flight, with the rest of development still ahead.
Textron Aviation report · May 2020. Shared first-flight account, with Eckhart’s quoted impressions; Tobias’s presence does not create a second independent account.
Read the full account · Textron Aviation ↗In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
MSFS 2024408 SkyCourier
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
408 SkyCourier
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Aircraft specifications
Published figures for the named real-aircraft variant. Simulator equipment and performance can differ.
| Specification | Published value |
|---|---|
| Length | 55 ft 1 in (16.80 m) |
| Wingspan | 72 ft 3 in (22.02 m) |
| Height | 20 ft 8 in (6.30 m) |
| Wing area | 441.0 sq ft (40.97 m² ) |
| Empty weight | 12,325 lb (5,591 kg) , Freighter: 11,000 lb (4,990 kg) |
| Max takeoff weight | 19,000 lb (8,618 kg) |
| Powerplant | 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A -65SC turboprop , 1,110 hp (830 kW) each |
| Propellers | 4-bladed McCauley Blackmac aluminum, auto feathering, reverse |
| Cruise speed | 210 kn (240 mph, 390 km/h) maximum |
| Range | 386 nmi (444 mi, 715 km) with 19 passengers, LRC, 100nmi IFR reserves, FL100 |
| Service ceiling | 25,000 ft (7,600 m) |
Manuals & resources
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Pilot account
The first crew completes the planned work in a new aircraftTextron Aviation report · May 2020. Shared first-flight account, with Eckhart’s quoted impressions; Tobias’s presence does not create a second independent account.
Eckhart and Tobias took the SkyCourier prototype from Beech Field for its first flight, spending more than two hours assessing the aircraft and its systems. Afterwards, Eckhart particularly praised the steadiness of its takeoff and landing behaviour. He was pleased that the crew had completed everything planned for the outing. The flight began a larger programme involving additional aircraft and ground test equipment.
Corey Eckhart and Aaron Tobias
Textron Aviation · 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 408 SkyCourierWikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1372140916 · retrieved 2026-09-12 Iron Bird: SkyCourier’s iron testbedAOPA Pilot · Thomas A. Horne · 1 March 2022Resource
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 408 SkyCourier
Free and Pro · Revision 2 · Partial review
MSFS 2024
Cessna 408 SkyCourier: The twin utility transport's configured yoke response is nominal; a Caravan's published force balance is not silently reused as SkyCourier measurement.
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