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The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing Airplane . It is likely the most popular Flight Training Aircraft in the world. The first production models were delivered in 1957 and it is still in production in 2006 ; more than 35,000 have been built. The Skyhawk's main competitors have been the popular Piper Cherokee , the Beechcraft Musketeer and Grumman Cheetah (both no longer in production), and, more recently, the Diamond Aircraft DA40 Star . The Skyhawk is ubiquitous throughout the Americas, Europe and parts of Asia; it is the aircraft most people visualize when they hear the words "small plane". More people probably know the name Piper Cub , but the Skyhawk's shape is far more familiar. The 172 was a direct descendant of the Cessna 170 , which used conventional ( Taildragger ) landing gear instead of Tricycle Gear . Early 172s looked almost identical to the 170, with the same straight aft fuselage and tall gear legs, but later versions incorporated revised landing gear, a lowered rear deck, and an aft window. Cessna advertised this added rear visibility as "Omnivision". The final structural development, in the mid- 1960s , was the sweptback tail still used today. The airframe has remained almost unchanged since then, with updates to Avionics and Engines including (most Recently ) the Garmin G1000 Glass Cockpit . Production ended in the mid- 1980s , but was resumed in 1996 with the 160 hp (120kW) Cessna 172R and 180 hp (135kW) '''Cessna 172SP'''. The older Skyhawks shipped with a 145 Horsepower (110 kW) engine; later planes shipped with engines up to 180 Horsepower (135 KW) , though 150 Or 160 Hp (110 Or 120 KW) is more common. A rare modification of engines allowed the installation of a 220 hp Franklin engine. Cessna produced a retractable-gear version of the 172 named the Cutlass 172RG and also produced versions on floats. The 172RG additionally had a variable pitch, constant speed propeller and more powerful stock engine as did the more spartan militarized '''Cessna 172E''' that was sold to the US Army as a spotter plane. The '''Reims Rocket''', designated FR172J was produced by Reims Aviation from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, and was powered by a Rolls-Royce built fuel-injected Continental IO-360D producing 210HP, and driving a constant speed prop. This led to the '''R172K Hawk XP''' which was produced from 1977 to 1979 in both Wichita and Reims, and this featured a fuel injected Continental IO-360K (later IO-360KB), derated to 195hp, driving a two bladed constant speed prop. This aircraft is capable of 131 knot cruise speed, and performs similarly to the Cessna 182. The normal cruising speed for a fixed-gear 172 ranges from about 105 to 125 Knots , depending on the engine and vintage. The Skyhawk is part of a large family of high-wing, tricycle-gear, single-engine Cessna planes, ranging from the two-seater 150 / 152 (no longer in production) to the more powerful 182 Skylane , the six-seat 206 Stationair , and the fourteen-seat turboprop 208 Caravan , along with several other models no longer produced. See also: T-41 Mescalero . SPECIFICATIONS (172R)
U.S. GOVERNMENT USES A variant of the C172, the T-41 , is used as a trainer with the United States Air Force and Army . Because of its high-wing design, stability at low airspeeds, and relatively low stall speed, the C-172 is an excellent platform for search and rescue operations, and is the primary platform for the Civil Air Patrol 's operations. Some C-172RG's in the CAP Fleet are equipped with the Satellite Digital Imaging System . In addition, the United States Border Patrol operates a fleet that consists of many C-172's. They are utilized for aerial patrol along the Mexican-American frontier. OTHER MILITARY OPERATORS
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