Hawker Beech Factory Tour: Made in America
This past week I had the privilege of taking a tour of the Hawker Beechcraft factory and corporate headquarters in Wichita Kansas.
The tour started at our home base in Tennessee with a flight to Wichita on a new Hawker 4000. The aircraft is impressive and I will post soon with video and more information on this new generation, state of the art, mid size business jet.
Our company has operated Beechcraft King Airs for over 25 years, and much of my flying time is logged in various Barons and Bonanzas, so I have been a fan of Beechcraft for a long time.
The King Air series aircraft are without argument the most successful turboprop ever built with a production run spanning 5 decades.
The King Air C90GTX / B200GT / 350I series aircraft are still in production for civilian and military applications. All are evolved from the original King Air that first rolled of the line in 1965.
Hawker Beech’s jet aircraft in production include the Hawker 4000, Hawker 900XP, Hawker 750, Hawker 400XP and the Premier 1A/II. The Hawker 750 and 900 series aircraft are evolutions of the original Hawker jets manufactured in the UK and are the best selling series of business jets in the world.
Hawker Beech also manufacturers variations of the military T-6 trainer, which is the primary trainer for both the navy and air force pilot programs.
The Beech Baron G58 twin engine and Bonanza G36 single engine piston aircraft round out the line of aircraft in production.
Arriving to the factory at Hawker Beech’s airport in Wichita, our first stop was the delivery hangar, where new aircraft were in the final stage of delivery to the new owners. There is a large American flag on one wall, prominently displayed as reminder that these aircraft going all over the world are made in America.
Wichita is the number one city for growing exports and Hawker Beech plays a big part. The percentage of aircraft exported now exceeds the percentage staying in the US and this will continue to increase as the demand for business aircraft worldwide grows faster than in the US.
One of the things that interests me most is innovation in our business and Hawker Beechcraft has done that with their new Hawker 4000. The Hawker 4000 has a composite fuselage and uses composites in combination with traditional metal structures in other areas of the airframe. Composites are lighter but stronger than metal structure allowing savings in weight and increases in fuel efficiency and performance, as well as reduced maintenance costs.
Use of composites in aircraft sturctures is here to stay as evidenced by the Boeing 787 having a composite fuselage.
What impressed me most from the whole tour is the sense of pride emanating from the employees, from the senior management to the people on the floor. These people are proud of what they make and should rightly be proud of the 75 plus year legacy of excellence in aircraft manufacturing.
A lot has been said about the competitiveness of the US aircraft manufacturing industry in the global market.
A current issue that Hawker Beech has to deal with is to what degree they move production out of the US to save costs. The unions in Wichita are fighting for the jobs to remain US and the decisions will be difficult. Hawker Beech must remain price competitive and at the same time they cannot afford to lose the skill and aggregated knowledge of the workforce in Wichita.
There is a positive and determined corporate culture that I admire with the leadership and employees at Hawker Beech. That will keep them in the competitive game of aircraft manufacturing well into the future.
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- Aug 27, 2010: ConnectingPilots
Update on Allen Howell’s earlier comments. The Hawker 4000 is “baked” in the second largest autoclave in the USA. The robot that applies the carbon fiber to the fuselage applies individual strips measuring over 1 Million miles. Talk about impressive. Elimination of the “old school” aluminum stringers in the fuselage not only saves weight but saves space as well. The interior of the 4000 gains space while the exterior dimensions are reduced saving weight and increasing drag efficiency.
Hawker’s recent decision to close the 400XP line and to curtail 750 production gives credence to the senior management team. Led by Bill Boisture, Hawker management is making sound decisions to move the company forward by continuing industry leading developments while responding to current economic conditions. This is especially evident in the evolution of the Beechcraft Premier 1A which will shortly become the Hawker 200. The Hawker 200 will employ the same futuristic composite structure but add additonal work space, longer range and ammenities not found on similar entry level jets.