[p911dad]

The "Skymasher" was a design that made the asymetrical thrust issue in an engine-out condition in a light twin a non-issue to the non-professional pilot. To the low time or non-pro pilot moving up to the really high performance craft that have 2 engines, losing a motor in any flight regime is a problem because you need to increase the thrust of the remaining motor to 100% to maintain flight. This will yaw the aircraft into the side of the plane that has lost its thrust, and presents a workload issue that many lowtime pilots cannot succeed in, especially in takeoff mode or in IMC, when the workload is high. More so in single pilot situations, which is how most private planes are operated. This is basically why Cessna produced this design, to capture those pilot/owners that knew they didn't want to deal with the potentially disasterous engine-out problems of the "normal" twin.
A very good friend of mine ironically died in the Skymaster a few years ago, he was a surgeon and a great man. He flew that plane all over North America and Mexico, and died as a result of a heart attack while approaching his home base, 4G6.. He put it down in a small field on a hilltop and skidded into a treeline, mostly intact. Good crash landing, but his heart gave out. He called in on the Unicom and stated he was having a problem and let us know where to find him..