Airtest – Cessna 303 Crusader

And yet strangely enough the original concept was canned about four years ago. The initial version labelled 303, had a brace of 160 hp Lycomings fitted, and it looked good. But according to all reports, the airfoil let the design down.

The thrust of Wichita’s thinking was deflected to a “bigger” market than the Cougar/Seminole/Duchess bracket; the design team went the whole hog and developed a type destined to step into the shoes of the Ferrari-like 310. – It was an arbold-step; begun in the same year the initial 303 design program was wrapped up with regret.

What has emerged is a completely new aircraft. Not merely a partly- cosmetic revamp of an existing structure. Cessna’s Crusader is now as much like the original Clipper concept (Clipper became a no-no for a name after Cessna apparently came out on the wrong side of a legal argument with Pan Am on using the name) as Noah’s Ark is like a current model hydrofoil.

Much wind tunnel testing was carried out before the design was solidified, and a lot of prototype flying was logged.

Cessna now has a six-place aircraft powered by a new series pair of Teledyne Continental turbocharged engines boasting 250 hp apiece; featuring Wichita’s now-usual wide-oval cabin, the cabin claims more cabin volume and baggage capacity than any other competitive six-place twin around.

The Crusader has excellent flying qualities; a short-field performance that will certainly make Australian operators’ eyebrows disappear upward; dual nav/coms, slaved DG, ADF, glide-slope, marker beacon, transponder, a pair of tri-blade 74 in fully-feathering props and other refinements considered in the “optional extras” department by other manufacturers.

Mind you, you pay for it. The Australian asking price varies between -$248,000 and $255,000; depending on whether you want an IFR-equipped machine with Australian DME/HF, radar and whatever else is thrown in.

But what an aircraft. . . Our evaluation team ended its sortie with superlat- ives oozing out of each ear. And we check out a lot of aircraft in a year’s flying.

Like a few others we’ve tested, the Crusader looks so right. One of its trade mark features is the high-sitting cruciform tail, put nine inches above the slipstream and put there to enhance elevator authority at all speeds.

The wing section has also been altered out of sight from the rather disappointing GAW-1 airfoil to a NACA 23017 basic tapering out to a wingtip NACA 0012.

Derated TSIO-520-E powerplants giving 250 bhp at a slow-running 2400 rpm, have been classified as having the highest TBO (time between over-haul) of any turbocharged twin – a cool 2000 hours. Australian regulations, however, currently slash that figure down to 1500 hours.

The Crusader sports an unusual (from the visual point of view) trailing link undercard. Designed for soft landings, your T303 looks a little like a girl we used to know who’d been riding horses since she was knee-high to a stable wheelbarrow bit bow-legged.

Despite this unkind simile, the Crusader can drop her gear at a magnificent 175 knots on the clock. Once down, you can accelerate to 210 knots without ripping the wheels off. Max. Gear retraction speed is booked at 150 knots with a retraction time of a shade under nine seconds.

Single slotted flaps can be lowered the first ten degrees at the same under porpoise was overcome by easing the stick back a fraction early in the run and following through gently at a rotation speed in this case around the 77 knots mark.

As one pilot put it, a mixture of under-cart geometry and the Crusader’s take-off roll angle of attack makes for a bigger elevator deflection.

This is a bit more than needed for proper pitch attitude after unstick – so one naturally tends to back off and start undulating progress above terra firma.

You can’t just sit there and fly the Crusader to her best advantage. Like most women she thrives on flattery and love. . . and you can’t just bang her about as you would one of your old singles from Wichita. Not that she isn’t tough, this little-big bird. But would you dress a Miss World in a sack and ask It was a Doid step, begun in the same year the initial 303 design program was wrapped up with regret.

What has emerged is a completely new aircraft. Not merely a partly- cosmetic revamp of an existing structure. her to show off her assets as well as she would in a Dior creation? With a VMCA of 65 knots the Crusader is a beautiful aircraft to fly. We put her in the same delightful bracket as the Chancellor and Corsair. We put her through the usual gamut of max. rate turns, clean and dirty stalls, asymmetric (with tight turns into and away from the “dead” motor) and bettered all the Manual figures by a significant margin.

Landing and its preceding approach are rock-steady and precise placement exercises, with plenty of time to adjust positioning, thanks to slow-speed control surface authority.

The evaluation aircraft seemed to like 85 showing on the approach and 70 over the fence. The touch seemed a little firm but Frank diplomatically explained it away with a comment $240,000 $200,000, depending un whether you want an IFR-equipped machine with Australian DME/HF, radar and whatever else thrown in.

But what an aircraft. . . Our evaluation team ended its sortie with superlat- ives oozing out of each ear. And we about stiff undercards on new aircraft. . .

Rex Aviation is enthusiastic about its first Crusader (which is within a whisker of being snapped up already, such is the type’s appeal). AUSTRALIAN AVIATION shares its excitement in an almost avuncular way.

With fuel efficiency as one of its many strong points, Cessna’s Crusader must logically sell well and steadily after exposure and operational proof in a hard-headed Australian marketplace has been overcome and proved.

With the type squarely in the middle of the 200-300 horsepower turbocharged twin market, Cessna has aimed straight. It’s the target area where the bulk of general aviation’s multi-engine sales have been recorded down, you can accelerate to 2TU Knots” without ripping the wheels off. Max. gear retraction speed is booked at 150 knots with a retraction time of a shade under nine seconds.

Single-slotted flaps can be lowered the first ten degrees at the same under cart extension speed of 175 knots. After that, take away 25 knots for each progressive ten degrees of flappage exposed to the airflow until you get the full 30 at 125 indicated.

Many aircraft of similar type (and the Crusader was evolved to point squarely at the Baron/Seneca III/Turbo Aztec region) are leg-ironed to relatively high stall speeds. Not so with Wichita’s Crusader. The aircraft has exceptional stall characteristics a claim sur- passed during AUSTRALIAN AVIATION’S evaluation.

Flow energisers have been installed on each side of the engine nacelles and at wing-fuselage junctions to minimise drag at high angles of attack. Coupled with Cessna’s camber lift leading edge, airflow separation is delayed to a quite incredible point.

During stall evaluations, we managed to drag the ASI needle off the clock- below the 40-knot mark before registering an appreciable sink rate in a dirty condition. Manual figures give a clean stall at 68 knots, dirty at 62 indicated. The stall is announced importantly and with some irritation by a marked buffet.

Integrated airflow regulators at the top of the flaps work to create strong trailing vortices which bring high- beautifully and aerodynamically there’s no need for external cowl flaps – they operate within the cowling.

Nacelle fire detection systems are standard fitting, according to Cessna distributor in Australia, Rex Aviation. Cessna has also fitted stainless steel collars round each exhaust stack to minimise fire risks.

The now-typical Cessna Long Nose, part of the Crusader’s make-up, accommodates weather radar when fitted, avionics remote boxes, a combustion heater, electrical componentry and of course the nosewheel.

There’s also a 15 cu. ft 150 lbs baggage compartment.

At the other end of the Crusader, the tailbone can house an optional 76 cu. ft oxygen bottle feeding up to six outlets within the fuselage. Nearby sits an ELT -and there’s a novel rudder gust lock down the back outside. If the pilot forgets to disengage it during pre-flight, it automatically pops out when the control wheel is pulled.

The Crusader has two separate electrical systems going for it on a fail/safe basis. If one fails, the other one takes over.

A beefy little type, the Crusader has strong construction featured through- classic lines. With take-off and landing max. weight the same at 5150 lbs, useful load is carded at 1870 lbs. She can carry up to 155 gallons/US in wet wings, all but two of them usable. A simple selection and crossfeed system is one of the Crusader’s myriad good points and features.

Design excellence is proven by operating figures. With max. speed Manualled at 216 knots, Crusader operators can expect some exciting figures at height. For example, 71 per cent cruise power at 20,000 ft could get you 196 knots and a range up to 895 n. m.

Go to extremes and you might end up with figures like this at the recommended lean mixture, the maximum range at 10,000 ft might be 1020 n. m. , or 7. 4 hours (which is why there’s that strange device called a Pilot Relief Tube fitted in a discreet position in the cabin, astern of one of the back seats).

The Crusader boasts a set of the most responsive and authoritative ailerons we’ve evaluated for some years. Rex Aviation’s Frank Bonnor, who rode shotgun on AUSTRALIAN AVIATION’s test sortie, first revealed this fact, and we proved it between us while crisply rolling the evaluation aircraft from one wingtip to the other at almost fighter-fast rate and right down to stall point. Even in the stall, there was a healthy response from the dirtied-up ailerons.

A type designed at the outset for both pilots and their passengers, the Crusader is rich in internal and external quietude, comfort and a work-manlike layout.

The inboard-turning props do much to lessen pilot workload in both twin-engine and engine-out modes.

The cockpit itself is typical Cessna research; with flight instruments in the good old basic T, on a grey background, engine instruments are func- tionally grouped at the top of the panel. And, right down to the last details, engine gauges (rpm, manifold pressure and fuel flow) all point to the three o’clock position when registering correct take-off settings.

Crusader N9469T was sitting in the sunshine when we first saw her. Like so many other classic types, the aircraft appeared to be full of graceful movement even when squatting bow-legged at Bankstown.

According to the maker’s serial – T30300020 the Crusader was 20th off the line, and the first to brush