Cessna Aircraft (1911), company review

This is a company that I carry a great affinity for as I had my first flying lessons in a Cessna 172 in Farranfore, Co Kerry many years ago. And I loved that little plane. This civilian plane is synonymous with the outdoors, as various Cessnas have been used for decades to ferry adventurers of different types into the bush and the back-country, with the 180 range being especially well known for these trips. So, when and where were the genesis of the brand? As usual, we must go back and start at the start…

Clyde Cessna was, by any measure, a true pioneer. Born on December 5, 1879, in Hawthorne, Montgomery County, Iowa, to parents Mary (Skates) and James Cessna, his heritage included both French and German roots. At the age of two, his family relocated to rural Rago in Kingman County, Kansas, near the Chikaskia River. As a child, he honed his self-taught mechanical skills and innovative spirit to enhance farm equipment and even create new agricultural techniques. Later, he was a successful car dealer in Enid, Oklahoma. Cessna's passion for aviation ‘ignited’ in 1910 when he attended an aerial show in his home state of Kansas. This experience inspired him to follow a career in aviation in the years to come. Recognizing his newfound interest, Cessna relocated from Oklahoma to New York State, where he briefly worked at the Queen Aeroplane Company, gaining his first insights into aircraft construction.

Back in 1911, Clyde Cessna set out to build his very first airplane, which he called the "Silverwing." It was a monoplane made from spruce and linen, inspired by the Bleriot XI design. He powered it with a modified Elbridge motorboat engine—nicknamed the "aero special"—a 40-horsepower, 4-cylinder engine. Cessna decided to test it out on the Great Salt Plains in Oklahoma, but his first attempt ended in a ground loop, which cost him $100 to fix. For context, it’s important to remember that this was only 8 years after the Wright Brothers famed ‘first flight’.

Undeterred, he tried 13 more times, each attempt ending in failure, until finally, on his 13th go, the plane bounced into the air for a brief moment before crashing into trees. Frustrated, Cessna famously said, "I'm going to fly this thing, then set it on fire and never deal with airplanes again!"

But, by June of that year, his persistence paid off and he achieved his first successful flight. Those who had laughed at his earlier mishaps now called him a "daring hero," even giving him the nickname "Birdman of Enid." By December, Cessna had taught himself to fly well enough to complete a 5-mile round-trip flight, making him the first person to build and fly a plane in the Heartland of the U.S.

After the success of the Silverwing, Cessna decided to leave the automobile industry for good and fully dive into his passion for aviation. Between 1912 and 1915, he designed several new monoplanes, all using an Anzani 6-cylinder engine with 40-60 horsepower. During that time, he made a decent living by flying his planes at holiday events and county fairs.

In 1916, Clyde secured an empty building where he planned to build a new aircraft for the 1917 aviation exhibition season. The space also doubled as a flight school, where he trained five student pilots. But when the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, the exhibition flying scene understandably came to a standstill. With his income dried up, Cessna returned to his family’s farm near Rago, Kansas, to farming again.

After World War I, public interest in private flying really ‘took off’ (I couldn’t resist!), and in 1925, Cessna teamed up with Walter Beech (of Beech Aircraft) and Lloyd Stearman to start the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in Wichita, Kansas. Under Cessna's leadership as president, the company quickly became one of the top aircraft manufacturers in the U.S. Thanks to his innovative design ideas, their planes gained international ‘PR’, setting multiple speed and distance records.

However, after two years, Cessna parted ways with the company, reportedly due to disagreements with his partners over whether to focus on monoplane or biplane designs. He left with the intention of starting his own venture. In 1927 (Sep 27th to be precise), Clyde Cessna partnered with aviation entrepreneur Victor Roos to form Cessna-Roos Aircraft. However, Roos resigned just a month later, selling his stake back to Cessna, and by December, the company had been renamed Cessna Aircraft Corporation. Toward the end of 1927, Cessna faced challenges designing an efficient monoplane, but he eventually completed the AW model. Sidenote: I wonder if the fact that Roos, Beech and Stearman discontinued business relations with Cessna offer a character insight? They say you can make an omelet without breaking eggs, I guess.

Anyhow, he followed up with the CW-6 in 1928 and the DC-6 in 1929. Cessna even collaborated with his son, Eldon, to create the CR-series racing aircraft. However, macro economic factors were about to bite from left field. The Cessna DC-6 actually earned certification on the exact same day as the stock market crash of 1929 - October 2. Despite the success of these models, the Great Depression hit hard, causing a drastic drop in aircraft sales, and eventually forcing the company into bankruptcy, leading to its closure in 1931. Interestingly, post closure, in 1933 the Cessna CR-3 custom racer made its debut flight. The plane went on to win the American Air Race in Chicago that same year, and it set a new world speed record for aircraft with engines under 500 cubic inches, averaging an impressive 237 mph (381 km/h).

In 1934, Cessna reopened his Wichita plant but he sold it to his nephews, Dwane and Dwight Wallace, in 1936. After that, Clyde returned to farming, using an early diesel three-track tractor to build ponds for local farmers. While he stayed involved with Cessna Aircraft Corporation in a more ceremonial role, at his nephew Dwane's request, he mostly kept out of the company’s daily operations.

Under the new management, in 1937, Cessna introduced the C-37, which became their first seaplane when fitted with ‘Edo floats’. By 1940, the company landed its biggest order yet, securing a contract with the U.S. Army for 33 specially equipped Cessna T-50s, their first twin-engine aircraft. Later that same year, the Royal Canadian Air Force followed suit, placing an order for 180 T-50s. The new management certainly seemed to have commercial heads as the company continued to grow. Fortune also favored them, as the war ending kicked things off. In 1946, after wartime production restrictions were lifted and interest in the air grew, Cessna resumed commercial production with the launch of the Model 120 and Model 140. These aircraft marked a shift to an all-metal design, using production tools and dies instead of the pre-war, hand-built tube-and-fabric method. The Model 140 was named the "Outstanding Plane of the Year" by the U.S. Flight Instructors Association in 1948.

Cessna's first and only helicopter, the CH-1, received FAA type certification in 1955. The following year, they introduced the iconic Cessna 172 (the plane I started in), which went on to become the most produced airplane in history. In the post-WWII era, Cessna became one of the "Big Three" in general aviation, alongside Piper and Beechcraft.

The company then really went from strength to strength as the aviation industry grew. Back in 1959, Cessna made a big move by acquiring Aircraft Radio Corporation (ARC) from Boonton, New Jersey, which was a top player in the aircraft radio industry at the time. They expanded the ARC product line and rebranded the radios under the "Cessna" name, making them the go-to factory option for avionics in new Cessna planes. Unfortunately, over time, the quality and popularity of ARC radios took a hit. Cessna eventually sold ARC in 1983 to Sperry.

Fast forward to 1960, Cessna added another key company to their roster—McCauley Industrial Corporation from Ohio, a leader in propeller manufacturing. Thanks to their installation on many Cessna planes, McCauley became the world's top producer of general aviation propellers!

In the same year, Cessna also formed a partnership with Reims Aviation in France. Just a few years later, in 1963, they celebrated the production of their 50,000th aircraft, a Cessna 172.

Another major milestone came on September 15, 1969, when Cessna’s first business jet, the Citation I, took its maiden flight. By 1975, Cessna hit another impressive number, producing their 100,000th single-engine airplane.

In 1985, Cessna’s chapter as an independent company came to a close when it was purchased by General Dynamics Corporation, becoming a fully owned subsidiary. That same year, Cessna began producing the iconic Cessna Caravan. Then in 1992, General Dynamics sold Cessna to Textron (where it continues to thrive, right to this day). Cessna made another strategic move in late 2007 by acquiring Columbia Aircraft, a company that had filed for bankruptcy, for $26.4 million. They decided to continue production of Columbia’s popular 350 and 400 models, rebranding them as the Cessna 350 and Cessna 400. The aircraft were built at Columbia’s factory in Bend, Oregon. However, by 2018, production of both models had come to an end

Today, the fleet of planes manufactured under the Cessna brand range from the single piston Skyhawk to the 3,500 NM range Citation Longitude. So the business has changed a bit. Textron Grout did nearly 40% of their $13.6 Bn 2023 revenues through aviation (although after sale and sales of Beechcraft would be included in this figure), and the parent company trades on the NYSE, at a market cap of over $16 Bn. But I don’t care. I remember that little fixed wing that we pushed from a small hangar in Kerry and it felt as light as a feather. It was cramped, and jumpy. But I loved it. Many adventures into the back-country have started in those small and cramped planes for many people all over the world. So I salute the company that’s named after the unassuming farmer from Kansas, and I thank him.

One Home Truths about eCommerce for Outdoors Businesses

If you don’t get the correct product (or service) market fit, everything else is irrelevant. You’ll look at strategies and techniques that work for others, and replicate, and find (frustratingly) that they don’t work for you. It feels like pushing a boulder up a hill. And it sucks. Take it from a fool that knows!

We should spend more time on product market fit that anything else, but unfortunately the opposite is true. We get much more consumed in tech stacks, and data analysis, and operations, than we do on making sure that we develop something that people will pay for, at a price that they deem correct. This is the essence, especially in an extremely fragmented outdoors industry. Alex Hormozzi famously calls this 'Make people an offer so good they would feel stupid saying no." Although context is different, premise is the same.

Some tools to consider form establishing product / market fit

1. Google Trends - good for macro search data comparison

2. Amazon - what’s selling - their own lists as well as tools such as Smart Scout and Helium 10 - based on fact

3. Landing pages and signup lists - this can be very basic, or very technical which will enable us to test the effects of price increase/decrease on conversion rate. This is a key tool.

4. Talk, talk, talk to the potential customer. Obvious? Not so much.

Marc Andreessen (GP at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz) has famously said: “The only thing that matters is getting to product-market fit.”

If only I knew then what I know now!!!