AirVenture 2023: New Cessna Interiors

Whether it's a flight school or private owner, today's aircraft buyers demand modern interior styling, but it also has to be durable and maintenance friendly. That's what Textron Aviation is trying to accomplish with completely redesigned interiors for its single-engine Cessna piston models. It was showing off a new interior in a 172 Skyhawk at AirVenture 2023 and Aviation Consumer Editor Larry Anglisano climbed in for a look.

[YiChi]

That new finish level competes with a $12k car from the 80s. For a half million dollars product, some would be right expecting way better than that.

[pilotmattincanada]

At the price of this aircraft is we shouldn’t be seeing primer in between the cracks of the interior. Come on Cessna I love my 1965, but the quality of the newer versions needs to pick up a bit.

[herkloader]

I use to rent brand new '97 and '98 Skyhawks back then and those interiors looked far superior. Hard to believe that was almost 30 years ago.

[motionlessmerc]

Not going to lie, that just looks like a city bus interior

[MikeCris]

I'd like to see Cessna introduce a split cowl that can be opened for inspection before each flight.

[BonanzaPilot]

These are great videos! thank you for bringing Airventure to us that can't be there

[SlackActionBumble]

Did they get the doors to close properly yet

[TheReadBaron]

Not that they will be torqued very high, but I really love when aircraft manufacturers use a fastener that is almost a circle, but not quite. Really helps when they strip out… mostly Diamond

I’d rather use torx

[pchansen]

I would like to see the non-flight school version of their new interior. This one is making me not feel too bad about the interior of my 1977 210. Also, the black panel is still out for deliberation. Boeing grey would have been a great choice too.

[Metalgearmadness]

imagine paying 500k for an aircraft and its got an interior put together like a geo metro

[ppem]

It struck me, at 3:04, whether having a water bottle or similar in the cup holder would interfere with the leads coming out from the headset and USB charging ports that are co-located. I wonder whether they’ve done usage and ergonomics testing on those. Similarly the upper eyeball air vents seemed from the quick glimpse to be slightly obscured by the sun visor up front. Maybe not, I guess it could just be camera angles.
I have to agree with the majority of folks who comment on the it looking a little utilitarian, perhaps a bit ‘cheap’. I don’t think I’d want to spend 500k as an owner operator to get this interior, though I sense they’re still going to sell well to schools/rental operators; it’s definitely skewed toward that demographic, and if so durability and maintenance are going to be the big draws. Just hope it’s tested for high cycle, low-care use. Interesting to see how they dress up the 182 and up to aim more at the Owner Operator.

[BrianOgilvie]

Tryng to compete with Cirrus. The white interior is stunning, but would be a massive pain to keep clean. Avgas, oil and stains from use, pens, markers, lipstick, you name it...good thing i dont need to worry about those problems..

[mecee]

At 3:04 I see the headset jacks / USB ports will preclude placing anything tall in the cupholders.
That's a HUGE design oversight.

[jonathanwelter]

I think the word you’re looking for is utilitarian. I would hope there is an upgraded package that has a more refined look and feel along with the ease of maintenance fr the prices you sell those thing off the line.

[manuelschaub]

sooo, to compete with cirrus or Diamond you used new screws? and a cupholder? I have to admit, this is brave.

[tow.JanWinnicki]

These Allen head screws look really bad. Also they strip rather easily and protrude too much. A button head with torx would be much better. In black.

[SamLeHardy]

Looks like the Pontiac Aztek of the sky. Didn’t anyone warn Textron about design by committee?

[colinmanley]

Just flew this aircraft today (I work for a top flight school) its quite nice as the pilot, the screws were a bit off putting but i definitely enjoyed the top cubby to put my iPad in. All twist knobs were quite underwhelming. Feeling very non tactile and with a high risk to get stuck. The color of the interior was great for night flying as it was extremely dark and made adjustment to night conditions easier. The seats were much more comfortable and held an extremely upright position helping to improve my sight picture and comfort while on the controls. The bolts were quite off putting from a pilot perspective but I will talk to maintenance soon and see what they think. The extra USB slots was very nice and I'm already enjoying the thought of using them in cross countries with my students. Overall it is definitely an improved design. I can't say if it is worth it from a consumer perspective (I don't think it is) but from a maintenance perspective I could see the ease of work being quite the addition and overall helping ROI. That is my take on the aircraft and I believe Cessna is trending towards a training/large buyer over the everyday consumer

[expataviator]

Looks awful. You can make it rugged without it looking like cheap plastic.

[JustSayNO]

It's 2023 and new Cessna piston singles still have a 1953 microphone at the bottom of the center stack. But hey, the seats now have modern contoured stitching.