The popular 205/206/207 line began life as a four seat utility aircraft, stretched from the 182 Skylane. The 206 and 207 share a cruising speed of approximately 150 knots, and a range of approximately 470 nautical miles.

In its initial form the 205 (originally 210-5) was essentially a fixed undercarriage derivative of the 210 Centurion, optimised for utility roles, requiring more baggage space. Introduced to the Cessna lineup in 1962, the 205 was powered by the same IO-470 engine as the 210B and featured an additional small cargo door on the left side of the fuselage. It later gained its 6th seat.

The 205 lasted in production until 1964 when it was replaced by the more powerful 206, which came in 2 models, the P206 Super Skylane and the U206 Super Skywagon, which respectively meant Passenger and Utility. The U206 featured larger double cargo doors on the right fuselage side. Continuous improvement followed, including introduction of turbocharged and fuel injected models. The 'Super' prefix for the Super Skywagon was dropped in 1969 and the Stationair name was adopted in 1971. Production originally ceased in 1985.

The 207 Skywagon featured a 1.07m (3ft 6in) fuselage stretch (allowing seating for seven) and became available from 1969. Known as the Stationair 7 from 1978, it was replaced by the 207A Stationair 8 from 1979 which had seating for an eighth occupant. Production ended in 1984. A few were built in France by Reims as the F207. Several 206 and 207 aircraft have been converted to turbine power by Soloy as the Turbine 206 and 207.

The 206 is the third Cessna single to be returned to production at the company's new Independence plant in Kansas. Two versions are offered, the normally aspirated 206H and turbo T206H. The T206H first flew on August 6 1996, powered by a TIO-580, while the normally aspirated 206H, powered by an IO-580, followed on November 6. A decision to switch to the TIO-540 and IO-540 because of reliability concerns pushed back production by about 10 months. The 206H was certificated on September 9 1998, the T206H on October 1.

Our Cessna 206 and 207 are mainly used for freight transportation in the winter months, and for Alberta Forestry charters in the spring, summer, and fall. Warmer weather brings them a great deal of use transporting fuel barrels and firefighting supplies into the hundreds of small airstrips in northern Alberta serving the men and women fighting to keep Alberta's forests intact. The singles are also often flown on sightseeing tours for tourists and television/radio crews curious about the scale of operations of the companies mining the Athabasca oil sands.

Our Cessna 185 is mounted on straight floats in the early spring to serve as a support vehicle for Mikisew Sport Fishing's many fly-in fishing camps during the busy summer tourism season. The 185 resides at our float base in Fort Chipewyan from late April through early October.

All information on this page is courtesy of Airliners.net