Introducing the most popular plane ever built

Introducing the most popular plane ever built

The world’s most popular aircraft? Unless you’re an amateur pilot – or an aviation anorak – the answer will probably come as a surprise.

It’s not the venerable 747, which is finally being phased out from modern fleets after a production run of almost 50 years. Boeing has delivered 1,536 jumbo jets since 1969, which is nothing compared to the best-selling aircraft of all time: the Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

The humble 172 first flew in 1955 – a little over 62 years later, more than 44,000 have been built, sold and shipped to clients across the globe.

Who flies the Cessna 172 Skyhawk?

While the jumbo jet typically has room for between 416 and 524 passengers, depending on the preferred seating configuration, the Skyhawk has a capacity of just four (with very little room to stretch their legs).

The 747 has a range of more than 6,000 miles, and a top speed of around 600mph, while the Cessna 172 will fly for 800 miles on a full tank (about the distance from London to Venice), travelling at a stately maximum velocity of 150mph. Your average supercar would easily outpace it.

So don’t expect to find the Skyhawk gracing the fleet of a commercial airline. It is, rather, the aircraft of choice for countless student pilots. Thousands of young aviators have taken their shaky first steps at the helm of a 172, and the United States Air Force and Army use a variant of the model to train new recruits.

Beyond the schooling of unlicensed pilots, it is also used by US Border Patrol for aerial surveillance, and by a handful of militaries, including those of Austria, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Iraq, Ireland and Singapore.

So why is it so successful?

Because it couldn’t be much easier to fly and land, making it the perfect training plane. The wings sit high above the cockpit, giving pilots a good view of the ground, and so simple, clean and robust is the design, it has been dubbed the “land-o-matic”. It has always been relatively affordable too, with a new 172 today priced at around £225,000. A second-hand 172 might cost just £25,000.

It was an instant success, with 1,400 built in 1956, its first full year. That rate has rarely slowed, bar a break in production between the mid-1980s and 1996, and while tweaks have been made to the design, the 172s of today look remarkably similar to the original.

“The Cessna 172 was arguably the most elegant compromise in the history of aviation,” argues Robert Goyer, writing for Flying Magazine. “It might not have been the best airplane at doing any one thing, but it was clearly the best at giving its owners a satisfying taste of everything they wanted in a personal airplane. For many of those owners, the 172 was the airplane of a lifetime.”

The world’s longest non-stop flight

Its robustness and reliability was demonstrated in 1958, when two pilots, Robert Timm and John Cook, broke the world record for flight endurance using one. The pair climbed into a modified 172 on December 4, 1958, and took off from McCarran Airfield in Las Vegas. The plane wouldn’t touch down again until February 4, 1959. That’s 1,558 hours of continuous flying. Food and drink were hoisted to the plane from a car travelling at the same speed as the aircraft. Fuel was transferred via a hose attached to a fast-moving tanker. The rear seats were replaced with a mattress so they so get some sleep. A small sink allowed the two to brush their teeth and wash. We’d rather not know how Timm and Cook relieved themselves during the marathon. “Next time I feel in the mood to fly endurance, I’m going to lock myself in our garbage can with the vacuum cleaner running,” said Cook afterwards. “That is until my psychiatrist opens up for business in the morning.”

Their aircraft, Hacienda, hangs from the ceiling of McCarran International.

The 172 that stopped the Cold War

German pilot Mathias Rust landed a 172 near Red Square in 1987 in support of world peace – evading Russia’s supposedly impenetrable air defense systems. His feat saw a clutch of senior officials sacked and indirectly helped Gorbachev push through his Perestroika reforms – many of those dismissed were opposed to his policies. Rust served 14 months of a four-year prison sentence, but was later handed an official pardon. You can see his 172 at Berlin’s Deutches Technikmuseum.

Accidents and incidents

Given its popularity, and widespread use by inexperienced pilots, the model has unsurprisingly been involved in its fair share of crashes. US boxer Rocky Marciano was killed in a 172 in 1969. David Box, a former member of The Crickets, died when the 172 he was travelling in went down in 1964, just five years after Buddy Holly perished in a plane crash (that accident involved a Beechcraft Bonanza).

Tell me more about Cessna

Based in Wichita, Kansas, it is a now subsidiary of the conglomerate Textron, but was founded in 1927 by Clyde Cessna, a local farmer. He built and flew his own aircraft in 1911, as you do, becoming the first person to fly a plane between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.

His nascent company was forced to shut up shop during the Great Depression, but was purchased by Dwane and Dwight Wallace in 1934. They turned into into a success, helped by orders from the US Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.

It shifted its focus back to commercial production in 1946, a decade before the first 172 was built. Cessna has also made forays into the business jet market, its first being the Cessna Citation I, unveiled in 1969. It was bought by General Dynamics Corporation in 1985, who sold it to Textron in 1992. Despite suffering during the 2008 economic crisis, which forced it to lay off hundreds of workers, it remains very much in business, helping Textron Aviation post a first quarter profit of $36m earlier this year.

Which other aircraft have sold in vast number?

A couple of the 172’s rivals are also among the world’s best-selling aircraft. The Piper PA-28 Cherokee, another single-engine four-seater, with a tricycle landing gear and specifically designed for pilot training, has sold more than 32,000 units.

Two more Cessnas, the 150/152 and the 182, are almost as successful.

Beyond that, it’s largely military planes. Precisely 36,183 Ilyushin Il-2s, a mainstay of the Soviet Air Forces during the Second World War, were built in just five years (1941-45). Germany built 34,852 Messerschmitt Bf 109s between 1936 and 1958. And the world has welcomed 22,685 Supermarine Spitfires.

Which are the best selling passenger jets?

As mentioned above, Boeing has sold just 1,536 747s. Its most popular aircraft, and the best-selling commercial jet still in the sky, is the 737. As of November 30, 9,803 have been delivered, to clients including Ryanair, American Airlines and United.

Next up is the Airbus A320, with 7,874 deliveries to the likes of easyJet.

And the worst?

Only one Hughes H-4 Hercules was ever built, making it a reasonable contender for the worst selling plane of all time.

And there has only ever been one Antonov An-225 Mriya, the longest and heaviest aircraft ever created.

Faring slightly better has been the Airbus Beluga, perhaps the strangest looking plane of all time. The are five of them out there waiting to be spotted.