Posts Tagged ‘King’
Tell Me A Story
This picture was taken in the back of my dad’s Beech Baron 55. From time to time, I’ve also let him sit at the controls of a KC-135, C-17, King Air (C-12), T-38, F-16, and many others.
Robby looks at airplanes with awe and wonder. When one flies over, he looks up and stares at it. Then he will look at me seriously and tell me it’s Southwest–even if it’s a Cessna Skyhawk–because he is trying to act like his big brother Blake (who can identify Southwest).
When Robby is flying in an airplane, he looks down at the world below–everything is so small, yet the world is so much bigger–and he is amazed.
I love to share the wonder of aviation, the joy of flying, with Robby, with each of my children. In turn, they love to hear stories of the superhuman feats that I’ve accomplished in airplanes: Setting a world record by dropping seventy two thousand pounds of NASA solid rocket booster out the back of a C-17 or pulling 6g’s or going straight up in an F-16 at Mach 1.3. (That’s really fast in case you were counting.) Or doing a spin in a T-6A Texan II. Or flying in formation with six other transports–that’s over two million pounds of cargo carrying airplanes–and doing a tactical descent at 20,000 feet per minute. (Okay, it was slightly less than 20,000 fpm, because that descent rate is the max limit.) Or the story about how I greased it on the runway at the end of a twenty six hour day–from Sydney to Honolulu to Detroit–a landing so soft that the baby in the back didn’t even wake after fighting a twenty knot crosswind all the way down the ILS.
You and I know that these are the kinds of things that pilots of all kinds do every day. That doesn’t matter. To Robby, to the unfamiliar, flying is magic.
Robby doesn’t understand the “flight or fight” or “no plane no gain” slogans. He doesn’t understand the bottom line or return on investment or profitability. (Incidentally, I like flying and aviation and those videos put me to sleep.)
He does understand superheroes. That’s why Cessna’s poster series was genius.
We need stories, not stats. We want to be inspired, not lectured. You won’t convince anyone with balance sheets or P&L statements.
But if we can tell a story…
Like that baby in the back that slept through the best landing ever. It was a medevac mission. Mom and Dad may not remember what kind of plane it was or know how much it cost. But they know how it changed their lives when they saw the pediatric heart specialist the next day.
And that executive who was worried about the bottom line when he hopped in the Learjet early that day is probably thinking more about eating dinner with his wife and kids than his discouragement over not getting the big deal.
Or that factory in Alabama and the forty people who get to work tonight, earn a paycheck, because the supplier flew the part in on the company Bonanza.
The lives we touch–the countless multitudes of people who haven’t flown on and don’t fly and will never fly in a business jet or an experimental aircraft or even an SR22–when we touch their lives, that’s what makes us superheroes.
If we can tell those stories about the people whose lives aviation changes…then aviation will change lives.
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.
Is it a good time to buy a business jet?
Yesterday I spent time with clients considering the upgrade of their turboprop aircraft, a King Air 200, to a business jet. Their travel needs are growing and the trips they do are reaching farther out from their home base, so a jet is in consideration.
As we talked a few questions were asked: Have the values of used aircraft hit bottom? Is it a good time to buy, and if we decide to buy what would be the best investment? These questions sound much like the questions Jim Cramer might hear on Mad Money about which stock to buy.
I have also had conversations this week with two representatives from manufacturers of business jet aircraft.
Discussions centered on the current state of the market for new and used business aircraft. One of the problems the manufacturers of new aircraft are facing is the competition with their own late model used aircraft on the open market.
Starting in late 2008, and throughout all of 2009, the prices of used business jet aircraft fell in some cases as much as 50-60%. In an uncertain economy no one was buying and sellers could not get an established value without buyers.
A four-year-old low time jet in like new condition today may be selling for half of its new price when delivered in 2006. Compare this to 2007, and the ten years prior, when a four-year-old aircraft could sell for 85% to 105% of its new price, depending on the manufacturers backlog of orders in production for the same model.
The brokers in our industry would probably confirm that the market of used aircraft has started to move, and the first aircraft to sell are those late model low time aircraft that took a huge hit in a “no buyer” market. As worldwide buyers absorb this inventory the prices have and will continue to firm up.
Aircraft older than ten years, although still in excellent condition, may be slow to recover their value of two years ago, if ever. The supply of older used aircraft for sale is still greater than demand and will stay that way for a few more years. Prices may not go down much more, but will most likely not recover anytime soon.
Back to the original question: Is it a good time to buy? If you have established the need and defined the mission of business aviation for your company, then it is a good time to buy. If you are ready to upgrade to an aircraft that better fits the mission, or a newer aircraft that will provide more capability, lower maintenance costs, and better reliability, then it is a great time to buy.
Talk to people in our industry including manufacturer sales reps and reputable brokers of used aircraft. Wheels Up contributor Jeremy Cox is one of those guys.
Talk to other business jet operators, flight department managers, and aircraft management companies for insight. Do the analysis that determines what aircraft best suits the mission. Look at new versus used and the pros and cons of each.
There is a lot of knowledge in our industry and most everyone I know is willing to talk to you to share what they know.
If you have the need to travel to grow your business there has never been a better time to buy. It is a buyers market and there is good value in both new and used business jets.