Cessna scraps unsold Skycatcher airplanes

Cessna has scrapped its unsold Skycatcher light-sport airplanes.

The company confirmed the fate of the Model 162 single-piston airplanes this week.

Textron Aviation spokeswoman Rosa Lee Argotsinger said in an e-mail that Cessna retained its remaining inventory of Skycatchers for spare parts after the company ended sales and marketing of them in early 2014.

“The company did dispose of what remained after salvaging usable parts,” Argotsinger said in the e-mail.

The Skycatcher was announced in 2007 and was aimed at growing and training general aviation pilots. It was manufactured in Shenyang, China, and assembled first in Wichita by Yingling Aviation and later at Cessna’s Independence plant.

Two prototype Skycatchers crashed in flight tests, and its tail was redesigned.

The first Skycatcher was delivered in 2009 to Rose Pelton, the wife of then-Cessna CEO Jack Pelton.

In 2010, Cessna said it had more than 1,000 orders for the Skycatcher, which was originally priced at $109,500. Two years later, the price of the airplane climbed to $149,000.

According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Cessna delivered 188 of the airplanes between 2009 and 2012.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 6:34 AM with the headline "Cessna scraps unsold Skycatcher airplanes."