CESSNA 208

The Cessna 208 is the original short-fuselage Caravan, before the stretched 208B Grand Caravan took over most production. It is a single-engine turboprop utility aircraft on fixed gear with a large cargo door, carrying nine passengers or a substantial freight load out of short unpaved strips. It was certified in October 1984 with the 600 shp PT6A-114, and the one change that alters what the aeroplane will do came in May 1998, when Cessna replaced it with the Caravan 675: the 675 shp PT6A-114A from the Grand Caravan, from serial 20800277 onward, worth about 175 fpm of climb and a few knots of cruise on the same 8,000 lb airframe. Everything from 1998 on has that engine, and because it is the same engine the 208B uses, parts and overhaul pricing are common. The Garmin G1000 became the standard panel in 2008, so a late-1990s aircraft is a 675 with round dials and a 2008 or later one is a 675 with glass.

Being shorter than a Grand Caravan it carries less but performs a little better, and it is the version most often found on floats, where the shorter fuselage helps. It is bought for load and reliability rather than speed — 175 knots, unpressurised, and loud. Icing is the type's documented weak area: the Caravan accumulated a poor record in icing conditions and now operates under specific limitations and equipment requirements that anyone flying one in winter must understand. No type rating is required below 12,500 lb.