By Dayna Fedy-MacDonald | October 18, 2022 Estimated reading time 5 minutes, 53 seconds.
During this year’s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention and exhibition, Textron Aviation shared several updates on its Beechcraft Denali program, which was first introduced as the Cessna Denali in early 2017, and later rebranded under Beechcraft.
Lannie O’Bannion, senior VP of global sales and flight operations at Textron, shared that the company has added the third and final Denali aircraft to the flight test program. The aircraft flew in September for a duration of two hours and 40 minutes, to a speed of 250 knots, and to an altitude of 17,500 feet.
This announcement comes four months after the second test aircraft made its first flight in June 2022. The Denali prototype completed its first flight in November 2021.
The three test aircraft have now accumulated nearly 600 flight hours. According to O’Bannion, the data gathered from the Denali flight test program thus far “is exceeding our expectations,” and the aircraft is “flying great.”
Textron is now working on aligning the certification of both the airframe and the GE Aviation Catalyst engine, which the company now expects to take place in the second half of 2024. The Denali is the first aircraft to be powered with GE’s new Catalyst engine, which burns up to 20 percent less fuel than older turboprop technologies.
Textron was initially targeting certification for the Denali in 2023; CEO Ron Draper told reporters that since the company was working on both the SkyCourier and the Denali at the same time, the Denali was “purposely rescheduled” behind the SkyCourier due to resource constraints.
“We had a customer, FedEx, that needed 100 SkyCouriers . . . so we slid the Denali schedule behind that,” said Draper.
He noted that while the company had “pretty high goals on the specifications” for the Denali, those goals have not been an issue. “It’s a lot of work to certify an engine and an airplane at the same time,” he added, “but we are bold enough to go out and do that.”
Textron is aiming to wrap up final development flights this year, and begin certification test flights in 2023, which should put the Denali on track for certification in the second half of 2024.
“From tip to tail — airframe, engine, and propeller — this is truly a clean-sheet aircraft,” said O’Bannion. “We are creating a game-changing product that will exceed our customers’ expectations.”
Looking to the future regarding service support for new models like the SkyCourier and Denali — as well as existing Cessna, Beechcraft, and Hawker products — O’Bannion also announced a facility expansion at Textron’s Wichita, Kansas, headquarters. The expansion will see the addition of 180,000 square feet, which will be used to store and ship more parts.
“We have over 120,000 parts in stock across all current and legacy Cessna, Beechcraft, and Hawker aircraft,” said O’Bannion. “The expanded warehouse will enable better inventory control and improved efficiencies.”
Textron expects the expansion project will begin later this month, and will be completed by the end of 2023.
Certification of both the Engine and the Airframe scheduled for the 2nd half of 2024 is in order.