SAFETY
This airplane freeing the pilot from asymmetric-thrust worries has merely shifted the accident causes elsewhere.
You won't find its name in accidents list under the heading "stall/spin during engine-out maneuvering."
Тhe Skymaster is less susceptible to the conventional yaw-spin-boom twin accident, so many pilots do not see the 337 as the fatal risk with engine failure as other twins.
The 337 has racked up quite a few accidents stemming from fuel exhaustion, mismanagement, and from tangling with weather beyond the capabilities of the airplane or pilot.
SINGLE TRUST vs CONVENTIONAL TWIN ENGINE
In a conventional multiengine airplane, pilots are trained to be spring-loaded during certain segments of flight.
They are ready to abort the takeoff or secure the offending engine without delay, lest it wander off into the weeds.
Skymaster pilots are not concerned with such ditch-darting - the airplane will climb out if properly configured.
Good multiengine operating practice remains a necessary ingredient in keeping the 337 in one piece.
So where do we find Cessna's new-think multi 40 years after its debut?
It has been described as one of the best entry-level twins, with a robust airframe and fine low-speed and engine-out manners.
The airplane's systems and two working horses - 210 HP six-cylinder Continental 360s - call for careful shopping, however, to keep from buying a true hangar queen.
THE VERY BEGINNING
STAGE 1 - CESSNA 336
Cessna introduced the original Skymaster with fixed landing gear and normally aspirated 210-hp Continentals.
That model, the 336 Skymaster, came to market in late 1963 till 1965
STAGE 2 - CESSNA 337
in 1965 model year was superseded by the 337, sporting retractable gear borrowed from the Centurion (Cessna 210).
The 337 model history shows more changes in the systems and powerplants than anything else.
(The Skymaster would return the favor later, offering its pressurization system to the new-for-1978 P210.)
ENGINES #IO-360
Starting life in 336's with the 210-hp Continental IO-360-A, the 337 would in non-turbo form keep the same basic powerplants to the end.
The 337's engines produce their maximum power at a rather lofty 2,800 rpm, which gives off enough of a racket at takeoff to send noise-meter needles a-wiggling.
Skymaster owners need to be especially concerned with keeping the airport neighbors happy.
The major changes dedicated to improve the bottom-end components.
TURBO ENGINES #TSIO-360
Big news arrived in the form of the turbocharged version in 1967.
Fully automatic wastegates and Garrett turbos were grafted onto the Continentals, which became TSIO-360s, still delivering 210 hp. The straight turbo option was dropped at the end of the 1971 run in preparation for the 1973 debut of the pressurized 337.