The Skyhawk/100---so-called be-cause it drinks 100 octane fuel-is a Skyhawk with an extra 10 horses (160 hp Lycoming 0-320-H2AD) and some minor cockpit/airframe changes that it shares with the XP. These include a rudder trim (optional on Sky-hawk/lOOs, standard on XPs), a flap switch with pre-selected detents for 10, 20 and 40 degrees deflection, an instrument panel rehash that does away with some of the flimsy appearance of early airplanes, and a vernier mixture control. The throttles on both airplanes are still of the push-pull, non-vernier variety. In addition, the Skyhawk/100 had a slight .nose job, especially around the air intake to eliminate the need for running carb heat during heavy rain to prevent water ingestion

The XP is going to be the airplane everybody wants to know about. 10 extra ponies in a 172 isn't going to boggle anybody's mind, but a jump of 45 horsepower with a constant speed prop is something to sit down and think about. The empty weight is up by only 170 pounds so the power loading is down from about 14.5 lb/hp to 13.1 lb/hp, a significant decrease and something which should point to like-wise increases in performance.

The XP Hawk looks good on paper, but the only way to really find out is to go strap it on and have a go at it. As it happens, you can't just go out to your local dealer and grab an XP and go flying. First of all, the airplane is so new, that at the time of our flight evaluation they had actually finished only one production airplane. There were several prototype machines around, but only one airplane was available that was typical of what you would be likely to be buying. The other reason there was only one XP to be had was that Cessna was hit by a labour strike the same time the XPs were about to start flowing off the production line. By now, that problem should be long since solved. Anyway, the airplane we cornered at the Cessna transportation centre in Wichita was the very first of the new breed. There were no engineering gimmick's, no fine tuning, no nothing. Just an airplane that would eventually go into the distribution pipeline to be gobbled up by a lucky consumer.

Unless you are a real Skyhawk freak, you could waddle right past an XP and never know it (assuming you can't read "Skyhawk XP" emblazoned on the cowl). The cowl changes are very subtle. The downward flowing line of the Skyhawk cowl is replaced by a slightly curving one that runs more parallel to the longitudinal axis. The cowl flap needed to cool the big Continental is a single-door that mounts in the middle of the cowl's belly. It's easy to miss. The constant speed crop is nestled in a slightly larger version of a Skyhawk spinner and is painted flat black like the Skyhawk's. All in all, the XP is a sleeper, a muscle machine in sheep's clothing that won't draw any excited glances at your local aerodrome.

Although it's not noticeable from the inside, when the engine lights off, it has a very throaty exhaust tone that sounds as if it is equipped with augmentor tubes. It must have been a real bear before they were forced to throw all that muffling junk on it

Cessna's airports are not exactly the places to try out an airplane's new performance; their pattern altitude is 300 ft. because it lies directly under McConnell AFB's pattern. So after a gentle 172-style takeoff, we struck out in search of greener pastures to play in.

In general, what we did with the XP that day was snoop around looking for places to shoot touch and goes, checking cruise performance between periods of pogo-stick activity. We banged around on grass, gravel, pavement, asphalt and some stuff we couldn't identify. We cruised at 300 ft. and 8000 ft., stalled and slow-flighted, timed speeds and gauged gallons and did everything else we could to find out what it was that made the XP different and exciting

The first takeoff will convince you that this is no ordinary Skyhawk. As a matter of fact, you'd be far better off if you'd get your brain into Skylane gear because that's how it feels. Al-though we were fairly light, full tanks and two guys, the increase in acceleration over the 172 should stay relatively constant regardless of load. We were working in pools of our own sweat with an OAT of nearly 100° and the XP still showed the Xtra Performance Cessna was hoping it would. When you drop the hammer, the XP leaps forward and you have to gather your wits about you to make a smooth, lift -the- nose -wheel - off -first, takeoff. Most 172 drivers will have a tendency to run along nosewheel down and jerk it off from a three point position.

At the normal climb speed of 78 kts the nose is at a thoroughly uncomfortable angle and covers a healthy amount of sky. It gets about 850 fpm, or about 100-150 fpm more than a stock Hawk. I prefer to give away a little climb and go up at a flatter angle, so I usually climbed the XP about 100 mph, which still showed about 550 on the VSI.

When pushing over for cruise, I found it was best to close the cowl flap before doing anything else be-cause when that door is out in the wind it acts like a ramp and lifts the nose a bit, changing trim. At almost all power settings I found the cruise numbers to be slightly better than Cessna showed on their charts. This was probably because we were at least 500 pounds under gross. The best number we got was a timed, two-way average of 133 kt true at 8,000 feet, as opposed to Cessna's claims of 131 TAS. That's about 152 mph, which is a pretty substantial number for a foot dragging, dirty old airplane. That's 10 mph faster than at least one retractable we know of.

The flight characteristics, including stalls, are traditional 172. Docile with a smallish amount of buffet, the stalls give a little nod and sluff-off straight ahead or back into level flight, if banked. The rate of sink goes up a little, but that's about it. And of course, the stall warning horn is strictly Cessna; when it goes off, you jump a couple inches off the seat.

Again, because of our forward load-ing situation, if I flew the last portion of final with it trimmed neutral or slightly aft, the elevator pressures be-came extremely heavy during the flair. I flew the standard Skyhawk/100 directly after flying the XP to verify this pressure build-up during flair and found none of this characteristic with the Hawk/100. It's undoubtedly a cg related characteristic and which can also be seen in flying a Cherokee 140, then a 180 and then a Cherokee 235, where there is a decided pressure build-up during flair in the bigger engine models. With full flaps in the XP, I found it difficult to land on the main gear and hold the nosewheel off during the roll-out. Possibly because of the heavier elevator pressures, the XP has a larger, more anatomically shaped control wheel then the Hawk/100.

Both the XP and Hawk/100 have airspeed indicators calibrated strictly in knots. There isn't a mph to be seen anywhere. This certainly causes no problems, except most of us aren't used to approaching at such low numbers; 60 KIAS looks awful low.

While flying approaches, it seemed to me that the XP was much less speed stable at low airspeeds than the Hawk! 100. I had to work to hold 60k, and with full flaps adding so much drag it was certainly easy to set up a deceleration that, if left unchecked, could cause severe problems. I personally feel the XP could almost be considered dangerous in this one tiny area. The airplane will be flown mostly by low-time 172 pilots, and if they are not precise in their attitude control, they could easily find themselves decelerating into a stall. However, with all that extra power, if a guy sees himself slow and nails the nose down, a short poke with the throttle will put everything back in fine shape. Also, the wing has a slight cuff on the leading edge which will go a long way towards keeping a guy out of trouble.

Basically, the Hawk XP is available with the same variation of options as a standard Skyhawk/100. This includes a stripped airplane, (and we mean "stripped") called the XP, an XP "II" version with VFR/IFR capabilities, or a II with Nay Pac. The prices for the three different versions were announced as: Hawk XP, $29,950; XP II at $32,650; and XP II with Nav Pac, $36,500.