Reims Cessna F406 Caravan II

Design and development

The F406 Caravan II is a twin turboprop engined, fourteen-seat low-wing monoplane of conventional aluminium and steel construction. It is a development of the Cessna 404 Titan with two Pratt & Whitney PT6 turboprop engines. The aircraft first flew on 22 September 1983, and was produced by Reims Aviation until the company's 2013 demise. In 2014, aircraft engine manufacturer Continental Motors, Inc., American subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, partnered with French-based marketer ASI Innovation to purchase rights to the F406; Continental Motors intends to restart production, including a diesel piston engine variant, with marketing to be carried out by ASI.

The F406 is aimed at passenger and small cargo transport, and civilian and military surveillance. For extra cargo capacity a cargo pod can be fitted to the belly of the aircraft. The Surmar is a new maritime surveillance version of the aircraft with extra equipment such as a 360 degree radar.

Though the F406 is more expensive to operate than single-engine aircraft of the same passenger capacity such as the Cessna 208 Caravan, having two engines makes it comply with European regulations regarding commercial operations, which only allow multi-engine aircraft for commercial instrument flight.

In 2014 the Type Certificate was transferred to ASI Aviation although it noted the organisation only had approval to produce spare parts and not the whole aircraft.

Operators

Specifications

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988–89

General characteristics

Performance