Soloy Pathfinder 21

infobox Aircraft
name =Soloy Pathfinder 21
type =Twin Turboprop
manufacturer =Cessna/Soloy


caption =
designer =
first flight =
introduced =
retired =
status = uncertified test bed
primary user =
more users =
produced =
number built = 1
unit cost =
variants with their own articles = Cessna 208

The Pathfinder 21 is a twin engined, single propeller turboprop aircraft manufactured by the Soloy Corporation, and based on the successful Cessna 208 airframe. The aircraft is essentially a stock Cessna 208 airframe that has been stretched by 72 inches, with structural reinforcement, and is powered by twin Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114 engines in a DualPack configuration.

History

Soloy has manufactured one Pathfinder 21 that first flew in 1995 and gained its Supplementary Type Certificate in 1997, but it is believed that the aircraft has not flown since 1999. Soloy was attempting to obtain a conversion certification from the FAA, however, after completing over 80 percent of the certification work Soloy announced that they were halting the entire program. The CEO explained that the FAA requires aircraft with over 9 passengers to have the airframe meet tougher restrictions required by FAR Part 25, which isn't possible since the base aircraft, the Cessna 208 does not meet those requirements. This requirement makes it unfeasable to market the airplane as the expanded passenger cabin is a major reason for the stretch to begin with. [Mike Vines [http://www.avbuyer.com/articles/Article.asp?Id=241 Cessna Caravan Story (Part Two)] AvBuyer (last accesssed April 12, 2007)]

pecifications

aircraft specifications

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop

crew=1-2
capacity=15-19
length main= 46ft 8in
length alt= 14.3m
span main= 52ft 1in
span alt= 15.88m
height main= 16ft 6in
height alt= 5.02m
area main= 279.4ft²
area alt= 85.16m²
empty weight main= 7,300lb
empty weight alt= 3318.2kg
loaded weight main= 12,000lb
loaded weight alt= 5454.5kg
max takeoff weight main= 12,410lb
max takeoff weight alt= 5640.9kg

engine (prop)= Pratt & Whitney Canada Soloy DualPack PT6A-114
type of prop= Hartzell Five Bladed Reversible
number of props= 1
power main= 1329hp
power alt= 991.05kW

cruise speed main= 210mph
cruise speed alt= 337.9km/h
stall speed main= 76mph
stall speed alt= 122.6km/h
range main= 539mi
range alt= 865.6km
ceiling main= 25,000ft
ceiling alt= 8,350m
climb rate main= 1,500ft/min
climb rate alt= 7.6m/s

[cite web| title =Pathfinder Specs| publisher =Soloy Corporation| date = | url =http://www.soloy.com/Resources/misctext/pathspecs.rtf| accessdate =2006-07-19 ]

References

ee also

Related Development

*Cessna 208

External links

* [http://www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=158 Cessna 208] - Technical Data concerning The Cessna 208
* [http://www.soloy.com/ Soloy.com] The Soloy Corporation online, products, brochures, etc.
* [http://www.caravanpilots.com/ Caravan Pilots] - Cessna Caravan website; Pilot related