Steve Knoblock, an experimental test pilot, has ûowned this Hawk XP for 13 years. It’s shown here ûin flight with a Longe-EZ experimental.

Even though the design dates to the days when Dwight Eisenhower occupied the White House, the fact Cessna is still able to cell some 400 Skyhawks a year speaks well of the design’s fundamental utility.

But Cessna has learned one important lesson twice: the venerable Skyhawk is a bit too anemic in climb and cruise for some buyers and they want something with more punch, hence the Hawk XP of yore and the Skyhawk SP in the current Cessna line.

That the Skyhawk is an able design was validated when Cessna tried to replace it with the Cardinal, going so far as adding a 180-HP engine and a constant-speed propeller. That turned…