Beechcraft

Last year’s restructuring is paying dividends for Beechcraft, at least in terms of deliveries. The manufacturer handed over 59 airplanes to new owners in the first quarter, compared with 37 for the same time frame last year. The deliveries included 16 King Air 350i/ER turboprop twins; 13 King Air 250s; five King Air 90 GTx […]

In an effort to grow its network of Beechcraft Bonanza, Debonair, Baron and Travel Air instructors around the country, the American Bonanza Society’s Air Safety Foundation has launched a new Flight Instructor Academy to support its BPPP Online+Flight and BPPP LIVE programs, which provide the ground portion of the organization’s type-specific training program. “ABS created […]

Beechcraft has filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims contesting the U.S. Air Force’s decision to reject its protest of a multimillion-dollar light attack aircraft contract awarded to Embraer earlier this month. In a statement Beechcraft said the Government Accountability Office (GAO) continues to review its protest of the $428 million Light Aircraft Support […]

After losing out twice before, Beechcraft is again protesting the U.S. Air Force’s decision to award a contract for light attack airplanes for the Afghan military to Brazil’s Embraer. Embraer and its U.S.-based partner, Sierra Nevada, won a $427 million deal on February 27 to supply 20 Super Tucano turboprops to be used in Afghanistan […]

Officially out of bankruptcy after a tough 10-month stretch, Beechcraft will now shift its focus to reestablishing its battered brand, supporting its customers and developing new piston and turboprop airplanes as the foundation of the company’s future. “Today marks the rebirth of an 80-year-old American aircraft manufacturing business with a globally recognized brand,” said Beechcraft […]

For bad and for good, the story of Beechcraft is a classic American tale more than 80 years in the making. The iconic Wichita, Kansas, light airplane manufacturer, which catapulted to prominence with what amounted to the Depression-era bizjet, the still-sexy Beechcraft D-17 Staggerwing, rose through the subsequent decades on the fortunes of a hall-of-fame […]

As Beechcraft emerges from bankruptcy, it is crafting its future by returning to its roots.

Still stinging from the collapse of its buyout deal with Superior Aviation Beijing, Hawker Beechcraft used the stage at the NBAA Convention to focus on the future — and in particular the company’s plans to introduce four new turboprop and piston models in the next five years while also exiting the business jet market. Plans […]

(June 2011) We’d just landed, taxied in and shut down the one-of-a-kind King Air 250 on the Atlantic FBO ramp at my home airport of Austin Bergstrom. We’d made our fuel order, closed up the big airstair door and started into the FBO when my flying buddy, Hawker Beechcraft’s Mark Mohler, spotted a pretty King […]

The simple logbook entry read “installed rectifier in alternator test circuit, flight tested OK.” We’d had a problem with our alternator-out light that was corrected on a Monday prior to a flight planned for Saturday. The briefer was right; we arrived at our hangar at Lee Gilmer Memorial (GVL) in Gainesville, Georgia, with less than […]