"This fourth aircraft, a Cessna 172RG Cutlass, offers greater speed and the option of earning a commercial pilot rating," said company president Tom Kilpatrick. "It is a logical step as we enter our second year of operations, and the aviation community has pushed us to add the aircraft."
Kilpatrick explained that a ‘complex’ aircraft has retractable landing gear and flaps, and a controllable-pitch propeller. For a pilot to fly for hire, the FAA requires 10 flight hours in a complex aircraft. Pilots with complex aircraft experience typically benefit from lower insurance premiums as they progress into faster and more complicated planes.
"This aircraft is 30 knots faster than our other planes and will get a pilot and passengers quickly to their destination and home. A flight to Dallas would take less than one hour and 40 minutes in this plane, more than three hours in a car, or almost four hours door-to-door if flying on an airliner."
Oklahoma Aviation is Oklahoma’s only Cessna Pilot Center, operates the newest fleet of instructional and rental aircraft in the state, and is based at Wiley Post Airport.
