Cessna 210G/H/J Centurion (1967-1969)

The specifications on this page describe the 1968 Model 210H. FAA TCDS 3A21 Section X gives the 1967 210G identical limits, so they are exact for 243 of the 381 airframes here — 64% — and for the engine that same 64% carries. The 1969 210J has its own row in the Variants table.

The 1967 Cessna 210G introduced the cantilever wing, the largest structural change in the type's history: the strut went, and with it the rubber bladder tanks. The new wing's internal structure is sealed to form two 45-gallon integral tanks, which is why this airplane carries 89 usable gallons where the strut-braced 210 carried 55 to 63.4.

Counted from the certificate's own serial ranges the run is small: 210G (1967, 118 built), 210H (1968, 125) and 210J (1969, 138) — 381 airplanes, not the 1,500 this page used to claim. A further 258 were built as turbocharged T210G/H/J.

Two corrections a returning reader should know about

This is a four-seat airplane. The page previously said six. 3A21 Sections X and XII both read 4 PCLM (Normal Category) and No. of Seats 4 (2 at +36, 2 at +70) — two seat rows. The six-seat Centurion begins with the 1970 210K, whose Section XIII reads 6 PCLM with three rows. Seat count is the finder's core filter, so this airplane was being put in front of buyers who had asked for six seats and would have found four.

It carries 89 usable gallons, not 65. The page previously said 65, which is the total capacity of the strut-braced airplane it replaced. Cessna Flyer's history of the type describes the same change independently — 1967 was "the first year of the integral fuel tanks in which the wing internal structure was sealed to form two 45-gallon (89 gallons usable) fuel tanks" — and the certificate states "90 gal. (89 gal. usable)". That is 37% more fuel than the page claimed, and it means the stored 750 nm range is a floor rather than a figure.

The G/H/J 210s are the awkward middle children of the Centurion line: the newer wing and the extra fuel, but still four seats, still 3,400 lb, and still the engine-driven hydraulic gear pump. They occupy a real niche — cantilever-wing speed and 210K fuel at well below Centurion II money.

Every figure below is from FAA TCDS 3A21 Rev. 50, read section by section. Airspeed limits are the certificate's own bracketed knots on a calibrated basis — see Performance Notes.

The bold row is the airplane the frontmatter describes. Every certificated limit is identical across the three; the only difference the certificate records is the engine dash number and the oil system that goes with it.

Both are IO-520s and both price at the same reference overhaul, so nothing in docs/CATALOG-SPLITTING-RULE.md separates them: same seats, same gear, same engine class, same certificate, identical weights, fuel, power and limits. They share a page, and the page says which airplane its numbers describe.

One airframe out of order. Serial 21058140 belongs to the 1963 210C run but is listed on 3A21 as a T210J, a 1969 turbocharged airplane. Section III omits exactly that number from the 210C's eligible range.

The cantilever wing change

The strut-to-cantilever transition is the most significant structural change in the 210's history. The new wing:

• eliminated the strut and its drag;
• replaced the bladder tanks with sealed integral bays — 89 usable gallons against the strut-braced airplane's 55 to 63.4, which is the single largest correction this page needed;
• allowed the gross weight to rise to 3,400 lb without strut-attach reinforcement;
• cleaned up the wing/fuselage joint.

Cessna Flyer notes the 1967 airplanes are identifiable on the ramp by "the unusually high dihedral angle of its strutless wings", and that the dihedral was reduced for 1969 along with a new oil sump that let the nosegear retract further and removed the chin bump — the easiest way to tell a 210J from a 210G or 210H without reading the data plate.

The cruise, range, burn, climb and ceiling figures in the frontmatter are not sourced. They come from the April 2026 generation pass. A type certificate carries no performance data, and AOPA's "Cessna 210" fact sheet has no 210G, 210H or 210J column — its three are the 1960 210, the 1972 210L and the 1986 210R, none of which is this airplane.

Read the stored 750 nm range as a floor, not as a figure. It was written against a 65-gallon capacity, and the certificate gives this airplane 89 usable gallons. It has deliberately not been adjusted: recomputing it would be arithmetic dressed as a citation. Sourcing it needs the 1968 Cessna 210H Owner's Manual.

The airspeed limits are CALIBRATED

3A21 Section X is headed *Airspeed limits (CAS) and prints miles per hour first with knots in brackets. The stored figures are the bracketed knots, unconverted.

Two traps live in that line and this page had fallen into the first:

• The mph column is not the knots column. The page carried vne_kias: 200. 200 mph is the 1960 Model 210's never-exceed — the wrong column of the wrong airplane. The 210H reads "225 mph (196 knots)".
• CAS is not IAS. On the Cessna 172 certificate NOTE 4 states, for named serials, that "TIAS is exactly equal to CAS". 3A21's NOTE 4 makes no such finding, and its handbook list starts at the 1976 210L. So these are calibrated airspeeds recorded in _kias fields rather than converted.

Gear speeds

160 mph (139 knots) both for operating the gear and with it extended. The catalogue has no vlo/vle field, so the limit lives here.

The IO-520-A is a 520 cubic inch, six-cylinder, fuel-injected Continental engine producing 285 hp at 2,700 rpm for all operations — 3A21 gives it no separate takeoff rating, unlike the IO-520-L in the 210K and later, which is rated 300 hp for five minutes. The 210J is an IO-520-J, same displacement and same 285 hp, so the two are not interchangeable on paperwork even though they are on the overhaul price list.

IO-520 cylinder cracking is a documented concern. Pre-buy borescope inspection of all six cylinders is essential. Field overhaul: $42,500-$53,500; the catalogue's reserve uses the national specialty-shop figure of $48,000 per reference/engine-overhaul-pricing.md.

The G/H/J 210s typically trade above equivalent strut-braced 210s and below equivalent 210K/L Centurion IIs. The 3,400 lb gross weight and the four certificated seats are the value ceiling — a buyer who needs to carry six people is looking at a 210K or 210L, which is 400 lb heavier on the certificate and has the third seat row to put them in.

The price band on this page is legacy and unsourced, and it was written when the page believed this was a six-seat airplane.

210 universal concerns apply. G/H/J-specific:

1. Engine-driven hydraulic pump: Still the failure-prone first-generation gear system. Recent power pack overhaul significantly de-risks.
2. AD 76-09-13: Gear saddle dye-penetrant inspection required at 1,300 hours and annually thereafter.
3. Cantilever wing inspection: 50+ year-old cantilever wings can develop spar cap corrosion. Inspect inspection ports per Cessna SID 27-10-01.
4. Seating changes: 3A21 certificates this airplane for four occupants and nothing else — there is no optional interior on Sections X or XII, unlike the 1970 210K which the certificate does offer in two configurations. Any extra seats in a 210G, 210H or 210J are an aftermarket installation, and the approval paperwork for it is a pre-buy item.
5. Verify the engine dash number against the airworthiness certificate: the 210J left the factory with an IO-520-J and the 210G and 210H with an IO-520-A. Both are 285 hp and STC conversions exist.
6. Fuel: 89 usable, not 90. One gallon of the 90-gallon total is unusable and is already counted in the empty weight.