Page 24 - May24Tv2

Originally published in 2015.
The Cessna 402
A Versatile Cabin-Class Twin by LeRoy Cook
By the mid-1960s, Cessna Aircraft Company was on a growth spurt, bringing out new aircraft models to fill every possible marketing opportunity. Recognizing
that business aircraft was the key to the company’s future, it was obvious that expanding the twin-engine line was vital. The Model 310 was over ten years old and had seen its share of upgrades, but Beech Aircraft had introduced the cabin-class Queen Air in 1960. To compete, Cessna needed a bigger plane.
What the engineers came up with was something called the “Cessna 411”. Originally, it was one of Cessna’s few design mistakes, but it did serve as the foundation for a successful family of rear-door twins, extending for the next 20 years. The 411 utilized the 310/320 wing, complete with wingtip fuel tanks, split flaps and electrically-operated landing gear, but with an entirely-new “wide oval” fuselage. Unlike Beech’s taller, but narrower, “bread loaf” cross- section, the new Cessna twin sacrificed headroom in favor
22 • TWIN & TURBINE / May 2024
of a wider cabin, since most of the trip is spent in a seated position. A split entrance door behind the wing offered folding entrance steps in its lower portion and a windowed upper portion. Nominally set up for four club-facing seats in the rear plus two cockpit chairs, two additional passengers could be accommodated if desired.
Certificated in August 1964, the 411 made use of turbo- charged 520 cubic-inch Continentals, similar those of the late model 320 Skyknight, but with a 3:4 gear ratio behind the propeller to generate 340 horsepower, turning the en- gine at 3,200 rpm and props at 2,400. The vertical fin and rudder turned out to be undersized for the task of opposing engine-out predicaments; Vmc was published as 90 knots. The 411 was produced for four years and 300 units; with oval windows and turbocharger bleed air available, it was obviously designed for pressurization, and thus the 421, with a larger tail and 375-hp GTSIO-520 engines turning propellers at a 2:3 ratio, was certified on May 1, 1967.