Some customers scheduled to take delivery this year will receive their aircraft in 2011.

Cessna delivered the first Skycatcher in December to Rose Pelton, wife of Cessna CEO Jack Pelton, who is learning to fly.

The Skycatcher is a two-seat, single-piston engine, high-wing aircraft in the Light Sport Aircraft category, defined in the U.S. as an aircraft with a maximum gross weight of 1,320 pounds and a top speed of no more than 120 knots.

Cessna introduced the Skycatcher in 2007 as a way to encourage more people to fly and to train pilots. It has more than 1,000 orders for the plane.

The company decided to build the $112,250 plane at the Shenyang Aircraft Corp. in China so it could be sold at a competitive price, it said.

Last year during flight testing, two test aircraft crashed after they could not recover from planned aggressive spins.

Reach Molly McMillin at 316-269-6708 or mmcmillin@wichitaeagle.com.