Cessna has now defined a retirement "age" for their aircraft - 30,000 hours
I wonder if that figure is actually relevant in the UK. How many C15x aircraft reach 30k hrs, in Europe? Do schools really fly 1000hrs/year? No school I have ever seen even remotely approaches that. In Arizona, possibly
On the one hand it does amaze me that Cessna have not replaced these old workhorses.
They blame certification costs, which I am sure is bogus.
But Cessna are not stupid. They are the most clever company in the GA business, and have huge resources. They must have a reason.
I wonder what it is?
Could it be that the payload of a "new" C15x is not enough to make the average training flight legal? The 162 is a totally stripped down carcass, to improve the payload.
Could it be that those planes look so agricultural that most people with more than 2$ to rub together walk away shortly after walking into a flying school and see what they will be flying in?