Cessna 170
The Cessna 170 is a tailwheel-equipped, four-seat piston aircraft that predates and directly led to the far more common tricycle-gear Cessna 172, sharing much of the same basic airframe. Its tailwheel undercarriage suits rougher, unimproved airstrips better than a tricycle-gear aircraft, a trait still valued by bush pilots today. Cessna eventually replaced it in mainstream production with the easier-to-land 172, but the 170's rugged simplicity kept it popular with backcountry and float-plane operators long after. Well-maintained examples remain active today, particularly in Alaska and other remote-airstrip regions.
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Did you know?
A tailwheel undercarriage is the quickest way to tell a 170 apart from the visually similar, nosewheel-equipped 172 that replaced it.
Specifications
| Length | 7.6 m (25 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 11 m (36 ft) |
| Height | 2 m (7 ft) |
| Maximum passengers | 3 |
| Persons on board | 4 |
| Maximum take-off weight | 0.9 t |
| Range | 420 NM (778 km) |
| Maximum speed | 105 kt (194 km/h) |
| Stall speed | 45 kt (83 km/h) |
| Service ceiling | 16,400 ft (4,999 m) |
| Optimum ceiling | 11,000 ft (3,353 m) |
| Rate of climb | 690 ft/min (3.5 m/s) |
| Take-off distance | 198 m (650 ft) |
| Landing distance | 350 m (1,148 ft) |
| Fuel capacity | 150 l |
| Engines | 1x Continental C145 |
| Units built | 5,000 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Cessna 170 starts as a Uncommon catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you.
A catch counts for the manufacturer Cessna, the 170 family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.
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