Twin-Engine Cessnas: 5 Cessna Aircraft That Used Two Engines (2024)

While Cessna has plenty of twin-engine jet aircraft, ranging from the Citation M2 Gen2, CJ3 Gen2, and CJ4 Gen, to larger aircraft such as the Citation Longitude or the Citation Ascend, the aircraft manufacturer has also produced plenty of twin-engine turboprop and piston-powered aircraft through the years.

Typically, a piston-powered Cessna aircraft is first associated with the Cessna 172, a staple among flight schools globally, with owner pilots also enjoying the type. At the same time, the Wichita, Kansas, United States-based manufacturer currently produces one twin-engine propeller aircraft.

5 Cessna 310

First delivery: January 1953

• Maximum capacity: five people

According to SKYbrary, a project coordinated by EUROCONTROL, the Cessna 310 is a light piston aircraft that entered service in 1954, becoming the first Cessna aircraft that the manufacturer designed for civil service. The aircraft's production run ended in 1987, with more than 5,400 civilian and 196 military aircraft being built when the manufacturer closed the assembly line of the Cessna 310.

Photo: Pablo Andrés Ortega Chávez | Wikimedia Commons

Gale Cawley, a former owner of a 1965 Cessna 310J, who acquired the aircraft in 2002, told the Cessna Flyer Association (CFA) that it was a wonderful aircraft, taking him to many places across the US, including Connecticut, Arizona, South Carolina, and Kansas City. In total, before selling his aircraft, the owner put 400 flight hours (FH) on the airframe, selling the aircraft to a friend.

4 Cessna 414

First delivery: November 1968

• Maximum passenger capacity: six people

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) stated that the Cessna 414 has quite an active second-hand market, considering that Cessna had not built a new 414 since it ended its production of the type in 1985. Throughout the type's production run, the manufacturer upgraded the aircraft to the 414A, nicknaming it the 'Chancellor.'

Photo:Austin Deppe | Shutterstock

Speaking about the aircraft's performance, the 414 would not be"considered a spirited handler by any pilot;"the control forces are heavy but solid, making the Cessna 414 a good instrument flight rules (IFR) aircraft.

Meanwhile, passengers would see the spacious cabin of the aircraft favorably. Due to the shape of the Cessna 414, namely its long nose, there is a lot of additional cargo room. Further storage space is available inside the wing lockers, which can also be fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks.

3 Cessna 340

First delivery: 1972

• Maximum passenger capacity: six people

The Cessna Owner Organization, which publishes the Cessna Owner Magazine, described the Cessna 340 as an entry-level twin-engine aircraft. Its pressurized cabin helped the aircraft become one of the more popular props of the time, with few other choices available to consumers if they wanted to fly at higher flight levels.

Nevertheless, the magazine noted that pressurized twin-engine aircraft, such as the Cessna 340, quickly lost their popularity, and by the next decade, poor sales forced manufacturers to stop producing some of the variants. This includes the 340, with Cessna ending its production in 1984.

Photo:Lithium366| Shutterstock

According to the organization, if a pilot is looking to transition from one to two-engined aircraft, the Cessna 340 is one of the best options to do so. That is because they"offer more than enough for less than too much,"and while they are not the fastest or the most economical aircraft, the Cessna design is more than enough to learn the ropes of twin-engine piloting.

2 Cessna 441 Conquest II

First delivery: September 1977

• Maximum passenger capacity: ten passengers

According to SKYbrary, the Cessna 441 Conquest II was specifically developed as an executive transportation aircraft. Similar to the Cessna 404, the aircraft also had a pressurized fuselage, enabling the pilots to be more flexible in terms of their flight planning.

Was the Cessna 441 Conquest II fun to fly? According to AOPA, the aircraft's combination of its compact, lightweight, and powerful Garret engines—the informal name for the Honeywell TPE-331-10N—delivered "envious performance, economy, and longevity."

Photo:John Nairne| Shutterstock

Furthermore, the association pointed out that the propeller-powered aircraft's range could have competed against private jets of that day and age, with some having to make a fuel stop on the same routes that the Cessna 441 Conquest II could fly non-stop.

1 Cessna Skycourier

First delivery: May 2022

• Maximum passenger capacity: 19

Cessna delivered the first-ever Skycourier on May 9, 2022, with the manufacturer handing over the aircraft to FedEx. Initially, Cessna delivered Skycourier only as a freighter. A mere year later, the company announced that it delivered the first passenger Skycourier to Hawaii-based Lāna'i Air.

Photo: Cessna

At the time, Lannie O'Bannion, the Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Flight Operations at Textron Aviation, the parent company of Cessna, remarked that the Skycourier was on its way to becoming a legendary aircraft for the manufacturer.

“It’s highly versatile, with cabin flexibility, payload capability, performance and low operating costs, and has already proven to be popular around the world.”

According to the manufacturer's website, the passenger version of the Skycourier welcomes up to 19 passengers, while the cargo aircraft can carry a payload of up to 6,000 pounds (2,721 kilograms), compared to the maximum payload of the passenger version of up to 5,000 lbs (2,267 kg). The maximum range of the passenger and cargo Skycourier is 920 NMI (1,704 km) and 940 NMI (1,741 km), respectively.