Plane Conversations

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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When we started our flight school, Wings of Eagles, ten years ago, we were looking for a new trainer that would be efficient, safe and fun to fly. We wanted to do something different and reach a different market of people interested in learning to fly by offering new aircraft with the latest technology.

At that time, most flight schools were using 20-year-old Cessna 152s and 172s as their primary trainers. I learned to fly in those aircraft and there’s nothing wrong with learning to fly in a 20 year old trainer; but, it is not the most inspiring sight.  When you are thinking about learning to fly, you’re not looking for an aircraft that has a worn down paint job, a ratty interior, and radios from a different era of electronics.  You’re looking for an aircraft that looks like the future, which is why we chose the Da-20 Katana because it represented just that – the future. When the Da-40 Diamond Star came out we were in line and bought one of the first ones made – serial number 42.

Through the last ten years, these aircraft have proven to be great trainers: so, we have kept Diamond Da-20s and Da-40s in the mix, even  as we have upgraded the fleet.

Like all general aviation aircraft manufacturers, Diamond has had a rough ride in the past two years, but they have hung in there, and now it looks like they are on the verge of some new, innovative aircraft that will keep them in the future game of private and general aviation. 

A post on Flight Global this past week written by Flight International’s Kate Sarsfield of Flight International says that Diamond Aircraft has secured an investor to help them complete the certification of the D-jet.

This is great news for the industry. There is room between the high performance piston aircraft (Cirrus) and the new light jets (Embraer Phenom and Cessna Mustang) for a single engine jet primarily focused at the market of owner-flown aircraft buyers.  

At a price of 1.9 million, which is roughly half of the Phenom 100, and nearly 1 million less than the TBM850, this aircraft would be positioned well in the market to sell.

Kate Sarsfield also mentions other innovations and product offerings that Diamond is working on:

Dries (CEO of Diamond) admitted at the show that Diamond has been forced to diversify its product line and widen its target market to “survive the economic downturn.” A number of projects are in the works, including: 

• Designing wing spar boxes for the Russian MC-21 airliner, which is set for service entry in 2017.
• Building a Mercedes-based V-6 turbo diesel engine for the DA50 DiamondStar piston single
• Designing and building a “future small aircraft” powered by twin turbo diesels. The six-seat variant will have twin 270hp (200kW) engines, while the eight-seat model will have two 400hp engines. Both aircraft will have fly-by-wire controls, an automatic landing system for use in case of pilot incapacitation and be available in pressurised and unpressurised versions.

• Developing two new V-8 turbo diesels – one with 350hp and the other with 550hp.
• Developing a light aircraft driven by a hybrid combination of a 55hp Wankel rotary engine and a 40-50kW electrical motor. Dries said an aircraft will make its debut at next year’s show.

Meanwhile, Diamond has European approval for its 170hp AE300 Austro engine powered DA40 piston single – now called the DA40NG.

Much of what is mentioned has to do with diesel engine technology for aviation. The diesel technology will eventually catch on in a big way for two reasons:

1. The supply of aviation gasoline is limited in most parts of the world and will probably not get better, but here is always an available supply of jet fuel and eventually a bio jet fuel will be on the market.
2. The diesel engine is more economical and eventually will be more reliable.

 So, hats off to Diamond for being forward-thinking and innovative.

 I look forward to seeing the D-jet and diesel variants of the Da-40 and Da-42 Twin star flying here in the US.

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