Cessna 340

The Cessna 340 is a twin piston engine pressurized business aircraft that Cessna conceived as a cabin-class development of the successful Cessna 310. It is a six-seat aircraft with four passenger seats, an aisle and an airstair door, and its main selling point was a spacious pressurized cabin, the first in a light twin. Its tail and landing gear came from the 310 and its wings from the Cessna 414. Work began in 1969 and the first aircraft was delivered in 1971, later than planned because a prototype crashed during flight testing in 1970. Early models used two turbocharged Continental TSIO-520-K engines of 285 horsepower each, and the 340A from 1976 moved to 310 horsepower engines and smaller propellers to meet noise rules. The 340 stayed in production until 1984 with 1,287 built, and the unpressurized Cessna 335 sold in far smaller numbers.