40 Fun Facts About Cessna 172

Beside which Moscow landmark did West German teenager Mathias Rust land a rented Cessna 172 in May 1987?

Red Square was his target, but crowds forced Rust onto a bridge beside it, where passers-by asked for autographs. He was arrested two hours later.

How did the two pilots of a Cessna 172 take on fuel during their record 64-day flight in 1958–59?

From a speeding truck: flying low over a straight desert road, the crew winched up a hose and filled a tank in the plane's belly.

Which former heavyweight boxing champion died in 1969 when a Cessna 172 crashed short of an Iowa airfield?

Rocky Marciano, who retired unbeaten after 49 professional fights, was a passenger bound for Des Moines when the plane hit a tree, the day before his 46th birthday.

Which Soviet leader used a teenager's 1987 Cessna 172 flight to Moscow as grounds to fire his defence minister?

Mikhail Gorbachev dismissed Defence Minister Sergei Sokolov and hundreds of officers, clearing out opponents of his reforms after the plane slipped past Soviet air defences.

Why does the Cessna 172 line jump from the 172N straight to the 172P, with no 172O?

O could be mistaken for zero, so Cessna never built a 172O. The 172P that followed in 1981 swapped out the 172N's engine, which had proven unreliable.

Glen de Vries died in a 2021 Cessna 172 crash weeks after flying to space with which company?

Blue Origin carried de Vries on a suborbital flight alongside actor William Shatner in October 2021; the company added his initials to its next mission patch.

From which US city did a Cessna 172 take off in December 1958 and stay airborne for a record 64 days?

Las Vegas was home to the Hacienda hotel, which sponsored the flight for publicity; the plane landed back at the same airfield in February 1959.

Where does a Cessna 172, like most small piston aircraft from the same maker, carry its wing?

Above the cabin is the high-wing layout Cessna became best known for after World War II; rivals such as the Beechcraft Musketeer carried their wings low.

Which Kansas city, long nicknamed the Air Capital of the World, is home to the makers of the Cessna 172?

Wichita is where Clyde Cessna started his company in 1927; with Beechcraft and Stearman also building aircraft there, the city earned its nickname.

Which name, first applied in 1961 to a deluxe trim package, does Cessna now use for every 172?

Skyhawk began as an option bundle with full exterior paint, wheel fairings and avionics; from 1976 Cessna stopped marketing the aircraft by its number at all.

Over which California city did a Cessna 172 collide with a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 in September 1978?

San Diego suffered what remains the deadliest air disaster in California history: 144 people died, seven of them on the ground.

David Box, killed in a 1964 Cessna 172 crash in Texas, sang lead for which band once fronted by Buddy Holly?

The Crickets used Box as lead singer on their 1960 release of "Peggy Sue Got Married"; he became the band's second lead vocalist to die in a plane crash.

Ken Hubbs, a Rookie of the Year second baseman who died flying a Cessna 172 in 1964, played for which team?

Chicago Cubs infielder Hubbs had taken flying lessons to conquer a fear of flying, and gained his licence only weeks before the crash on Utah Lake.

Which conglomerate has owned Cessna, maker of the 172, since buying it from General Dynamics in 1992?

Textron later bought Beechcraft and Hawker as well, and in 2014 folded all three brands into one aviation unit, ending Cessna's run as a separate company.

What led Cessna to halt production of the 172 in 1986, a pause that lasted ten years?

Rising liability costs pushed Cessna out of piston aircraft; its chairman promised to return if Congress changed the law, and the 172 came back in 1996.

Which engine maker took over from Continental on the Cessna 172I of 1968, adding five horsepower?

Lycoming supplied the 150-horsepower O-320, which lifted cruise speed by just one mile per hour; the standard 172 has used the company's engines ever since.

Clyde Cessna, whose company later built the Cessna 172, returned to which work in Kansas after leaving aviation?

Farming drew him back after he handed the company to his nephews Dwane and Dwight Wallace in the 1930s; as a boy he had improved farm machinery in rural Kansas.

Which Piper, certified in 1960 and later sold as the Warrior and Archer, is a longtime rival of the Cessna 172?

Cherokee is the family name of the PA-28, designed as a cheaper alternative to Piper's Comanche; more than 32,000 have been built.

Which control do pilots of older Cessna 172s use to melt ice that forms where fuel and air mix?

Carburetor heat routes hot air from around the exhaust into the intake, at the price of some engine power, because warm air is less dense.

The record 64-day Cessna 172 endurance flight of 1958–59 was promoted as a fundraiser against which disease?

Cancer research was the named cause: the hotel owner who paid for the stunt declared it a fundraiser for the Damon Runyon fund.

What did Cessna add to the tailwheel Model 170 in 1955 to create the first Cessna 172?

A nosewheel replaced the tailwheel, a layout Cessna advertised as "Land-O-Matic"; the result was an overnight success, with more than 1,400 built in 1956.

Which French company built Cessna 172s under licence for European buyers, starting in the 1960s?

Reims Aviation grew out of a 1960 deal with Cessna and sold the aircraft as the F172, along with a more powerful version called the Rocket.

Under which military designation did the US Air Force adopt the Cessna 172 as a trainer for new pilots in the 1960s?

T-41 Mescalero trainers were off-the-shelf 172s with few modifications, bought so that student pilots did not have to start out in a jet.

What did Cessna's Omni-Vision branding, which reached the 172 with the 1963 172D, describe?

A rear window became possible once the fuselage behind the seats was cut down; every 172 since has kept the lowered deck.

Which glass cockpit system, built around two large display screens, has the Cessna 172S offered since the 2000s?

Garmin G1000 pairs a primary flight display with a multi-function display; launched in 2004, it became one of the most popular glass cockpits for private and business aircraft.

From which Nordic capital did Mathias Rust set off in a Cessna 172 on his 1987 flight into Soviet airspace?

Helsinki controllers were told he was heading for Stockholm; when he vanished from radar, Finnish rescuers searched the sea for wreckage.

The pneumatic horn fitted to the Cessna 172 from the 1967 model year sounds to warn the pilot of what?

An imminent stall sets it off as the wing nears the point of losing lift; the 172H that introduced it also swapped the generator for an alternator.

On a Cessna 172R's airspeed indicator, what does the red line at 163 knots mark?

Never-exceed speed, written VNE, tops a yellow band on the dial that pilots may enter only in smooth air; the 172R normally cruises at 122 knots.

How are the four cylinders arranged in the engine of a modern Cessna 172, giving it a wide, flat shape?

Horizontally opposed cylinders lie in two banks on opposite sides of the crankshaft, which is why the design is also called a flat-four or boxer engine.

Which Soviet wartime attack plane ranks second to the Cessna 172 among the most-produced aircraft ever?

Ilyushin Il-2 production reached 36,183 between 1941 and 1945, still the most of any military aircraft; the 172 has passed 44,000.

In which Kansas town did Cessna open the new factory where Cessna 172 production restarted in 1996?

Independence turned out the reborn 172R with a new soundproofed interior, followed in 1998 by the more powerful 172S.

Under which name did Cessna sell the 180-horsepower 172Q during the 1983 and 1984 model years?

Cutlass was borrowed from a retractable-gear cousin to suggest a family link, although the 172Q was really a 172P with a bigger engine.

The Cessna 172J, designed in the 1960s to replace the 172, reached buyers instead as which model?

177 Cardinal was the name it took after the old 172 proved too popular with dealers and flight schools to drop; the two were sold side by side.

Which country's Air Corps flew French-built Cessna 172s from 1972 to 2019 on surveillance and cash escorts?

Ireland used them to watch over escorts of cash, prisoners and explosives from the air, as well as for army cooperation and pilot training.

Why did Cessna move the 172's landing lights from the nose to the wing for the 1982 model year?

Longer bulb life was the aim. The lights had only gone into the nose in 1971, when the 172L introduced a nose-mounted lamp.

What has powered the flaps on a Cessna 172 since the 1965 172F replaced the earlier hand lever?

Electricity took over from muscle on the 172F; in 1981 Cessna cut maximum flap travel from 40 degrees to 30 to allow a higher gross weight.

Which change to the tail, introduced on the 1960 Cessna 172A, has every later 172 kept?

A swept fin replaced the upright, straight-edged tail of the first 172s, which had been borrowed from an experimental 170C.

The 1977 Cessna 172N was built to run on 100-octane avgas; what does LL mean in the 100LL grade?

Low lead means 100LL may hold at most half the tetraethyl lead allowed in the older 100/130 grade; it became the most widely used aviation gasoline.

Which US volunteer organisation flies a fleet made up mostly of Cessna 172s and 182s on search-and-rescue missions?

Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer organisation whose light aircraft carry cadets on orientation flights and fly emergency missions across the United States.

What replaced the electrical fuses of earlier models in the 1964 Cessna 172E's redesigned instrument panel?

Circuit breakers arrived alongside a new panel layout with the avionics mounted in the centre; 1,209 of the 172E were built.