The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargomaster freighter variant was developed for FedEx. The 4 ft (1.2 m) longer 208B Super Cargomaster first flew in 1986 and was developed into the passenger 208B Grand Caravan. The strutted, high wing 208 typically seats nine passengers in its unpressurized cabin, is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A tractor turboprop and has a fixed tricycle landing gear, floats or skis. By November 2017, 2,600 have been delivered and 20 million flight hours logged. Caravans are used for flight training, commuter airlines, VIP transport, air cargo and humanitarian missions. The production model was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October 1984.[5] A freighter variant without cabin windows was developed at the request of Federal Express as the Cargomaster.[5] Another cargo variant for Federal Express, with a longer fuselage and a cargo pod under the belly, was developed as the 208B Super Cargomaster and flew for the first time in 1986. A passenger model, the 208B Grand Caravan, was derived from the Super Cargomaster. Since then, the Caravan has undergone a number of design evolutions, including upgrading the avionics in 2008 to provide a glass cockpit with the Garmin G1000 system. In January 2013 a higher-powered (867 shp from P&WC PT6A-140) version, the Grand Caravan EX, received FAA certification. For more information, including details of the variants, click here. C208 Caravan C208 Caravan Amphibian C208B Grand Caravan C208B Super Cargomaster Specifications below are for the base model 208.
