On Tuesday, Textron eAviation announced it will loan a Pipistrel Velis Electro to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where it will be showcased for the next three years. Textron acquired Pipistrel and the Velis for $235 million in 2022.

“This contribution represents a major milestone in actively promoting sustainable aviation technology to educate the next generation of aviators, while also strengthening our position as leaders in reducing the industry’s impact on the environment,” said Kriya Shortt, president and CEO of Textron eAviation.

The Velis Electro, winner of the 2021 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aircraft Design Award, will be a unique addition for the museum, which largely features aircraft that no longer fly.

It received European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification in 2020, becoming the first electric aircraft in the world to reach the milestone. In March, it earned a light sport aircraft (LSA) exemption from the FAA, opening up flight training using electric aircraft in the U.S.

In 2021, flight school Florida Tech became the first in the country to own and fly (in the experimental category) an electric aircraft when it purchased the Velis. The following year, a student pilot flying the model became the first in the U.S. to earn a pilot private certificate in an electric airplane.

Even the U.S. military is interested in the aircraft—last year, AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Air Force, picked the Velis for its Agility Prime aircraft development and flight test program. The initiative seeks to uncover military applications for commercial designs that have yet to hit the market.

Soon, members of the public will have the opportunity to see the Velis Electro up close and personal at the National Air and Space Museum’s upcoming exhibition next year.

“As we endeavor to tell stories about innovations occurring right now in aerospace, Textron eAviation’s loan of a Pipistrel Velis Electro allows us to explore the topic of sustainability efforts in aviation,” said Roger Connor, a curator at the museum.

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Reliable Robotics, which completed the landmark flight using its remotely operated aircraft system (ROAS), claims to be the first in the industry to agree on a testing and analysis campaign for these systems with the FAA. The company will demonstrate how its ROAS aligns with the regulator’s safety and performance requirements for operations in the contiguous U.S. and Alaska.

“We are immensely pleased with the FAA and the positive working relationship we’ve established together—it is clear that we share the common goal of improving aircraft safety through automation,” said Chris Schulenberg, certification program manager at Reliable.

Reliable’s ROAS is intended to reduce or eliminate accidents due to pilot error or impairment, such as controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and loss of control in flight (LOC-I), which it says account for the bulk of fatal aviation accidents. Initially, the firm will supplement personnel in the cockpit rather than replace them. It intends for operations to include a single onboard pilot to perform “abnormal procedures.”

The means of compliance for assessing the ROAS’ navigation and autopilot systems have been accepted through the FAA’s issue paper process. The blueprint sets out criteria for approving the technology and comprises a portion of the company’s supplemental type certification (STC) process.

That campaign kicked off in 2022, when the FAA approved Reliable’s G-1 issue paper. The G-1 defines the certification basis for its STC on the Cessna Caravan, including navigation and autopilot systems. The company’s certification plan for continuous autopilot engagement—a road map that uses existing FAA regulations and processes for normal and transport category aircraft, with no special conditions or exemptions—was accepted in June.

The regulator has also conducted several test flights with Reliable through its Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Airspace Management Demonstration program, culminating in its signoff on December’s historic flight. The Caravan used in that demonstration—a loan from potential customer FedEx—is one of many Reliable intends to retrofit with its automated tech. 

The company is working with both Textron Aviation and Textron eAviation—the sustainable flight subsidiary of Textron—to install its ROAS onto the popular model. Textron has delivered more than 3,000 Caravans, making it one of the most widely used turboprops in the world. Reliable’s remotely piloted Caravan could introduce same- or next-day shipments of time-sensitive deliveries to locations currently served by piloted models.

However, the firm’s tech is also designed to be aircraft agnostic. It could one day be equipped on other Textron designs or those of different manufacturers. The company says this could even include cargo aircraft designed for 3,000-plus-pound payloads—small cargo aircraft are a possible candidate for early autonomous operations, with low risk due to the lack of passengers.

In addition to the FAA, Reliable has completed watershed technology demonstrations with NASA and AFWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Air Force. In January, it was awarded military airworthiness approval to begin further flight testing and perform operational missions for the Air Force using remotely piloted aircraft.

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Reliable Robotics, which in November completed the first flight of a Cessna 208B Caravan with no one on board, received military airworthiness approval to begin flight testing and operational missions of remotely piloted aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. The company will demonstrate its dual-use automated flight capabilities for military use cases such as cargo missions.

Reliable’s remotely operated aircraft system (ROAS) completed an airworthiness assessment comprising a comprehensive safety analysis, maintenance and operational evaluations, and testing of its automated flight tech. 

The approval is the latest milestone in the company’s Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Air Force. That collaboration began in 2021. Since then, Reliable has conducted a demonstration flight at California’s Travis Air Force Base and been contracted by AFWERX to study the possibility of automating large multiengine jets.

Now, the firm is one of only a few in the emerging aviation space with military airworthiness under its belt. Beta Technologies received the first such approval for an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) design in 2021. Lift Aircraft, maker of the Hexa personal eVTOL, nabbed one the following year. Other manufacturers of novel tech, such as Archer Aviation, also maintain relationships with AFWERX and the Department of Defense.

“Our AFWERX partners are developing exciting automation technologies through robust engineering and flight test campaigns,” said Hank “Hog” Griffiths, AFWERX airworthiness and test lead. “The technology is maturing rapidly and this airworthiness approval for a certified aircraft retrofitted with an autonomous flight system provides significant opportunities for the military.”

ROAS allows pilots to safely operate aircraft from the ground, which could alleviate the sting of pilot shortages. Some even argue automated flight tech could one day be safer than crewed flight.

Reliable is developing the aircraft agnostic system to automate all phases of flight—from taxi to takeoff to landing—for any design. That includes cargo aircraft designed for payloads north of 3,000 pounds.

The company has an entrenched relationship with Textron Aviation and Textron eAviation—the manufacturer’s sustainable flight arm—to retrofit ROAS onto additional Caravans. Textron has delivered more than 3,000 of the aircraft, making it one of the most widely used turboprops in the world.

ROAS’ continuous autopilot system relies on advanced navigation and multiple redundant layers to reach a level of reliability equal to crewed flight, Reliable claims. It includes automatic braking and is positioned as being able to prevent both controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and loss of control in flight (LOC-I), according to the company.

Redundant hardware and software automate the flight control surfaces and engine controls. Similarly redundant voice and data networks, meanwhile, enable remote command and radio management for pilots.

“Nothing compares to showcasing how our autonomous flight capabilities will immediately enable new ways for the U.S. Air Force and other departments of the military to lead with innovation, improve safety, and project power across the globe,” said former Air Force Major General David O’Brien, senior vice president of government solutions at Reliable.

But Reliable is looking beyond defense use cases. ROAS—capable of automating aircraft with useful loads as high as 3,000 pounds or the ability to take off from shorter runways—could one day enable time-sensitive deliveries to locations currently served by piloted Caravans. In 2022, the company announced plans to launch a fully owned Part 135 airline subsidiary led by former Ameriflight executives.

In addition to its collaboration with the Air Force, Reliable has also demonstrated automated flight capabilities for NASA and the FAA, the latter of which formally accepted the firm’s certification plan in June. The company capped off 2023 with its historic cargo flight, keeping an uncrewed Caravan in the air for 12 minutes.

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Textron, representing Cessna and Beechcraft models, delivered 39 jets and 38 commercial turboprops for Q3 2023, an overall net improvement over the 39 jets and 33 turboprops in Q3 2022. The segment logged a quarterly profit of $160 million, which the company attributed to favorable pricing and higher volume. The aviation unit ended the quarter with a backlog of $7.4 billion.

On the rotorcraft side, Bell Textron’s revenues for the quarter came in even with Q3 2022 at $754 million, with the company citing “supply chain constraints, partially offset by higher military volume.” Commercial helicopter deliveries dropped from 49 for Q3 2022 to just 23 for Q3 this year. Bell’s backlog at the end of Q3 came in at $5.2 billion.

• READ MORE: Supply Chain Woes Hurt Textron Q3 Deliveries

Textron eAviation, including the recently acquired Pipistel, posted a loss of $19 million for the quarter. The company noted that the expenditure was “primarily related to research and development costs.”

“In the quarter, we saw higher overall revenues and net operating profit driven by growth at [the] Aviation, Industrial and Systems [divisions],” said Textron chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly. “At Aviation, we saw our strongest order quarter of the year with a 12 percent increase over the third quarter of 2022.”

Textron Systems unit’s quarterly revenues rose $17 million to $309 million, while the company’s Industrial unit saw $922 million in Q3 revenues, up $73 million from the same period last year. Textron’s Finance segment reported revenues of $13 million, notching a profit of $22 million for the quarter.

The post Textron Sees Higher Overall Revenues for Q3 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Agility Prime, the service’s cutting-edge, vertical lift initiative, explores the operational and training potential of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for various mission-critical purposes, including training and operations.

• READ MORE: Pipistrel Delivers First Electric Aircraft to Canada

“AFWERX and MTSI’s selection of the Velis Electro is a powerful endorsement of Pipistrel and the growing acceptance by leading organizations of this area of emerging technology,” Kriya Shortt, president and CEO of Textron’s eAviation segment, said in a release. “This marks an important milestone on the journey to sustainable flight, and we are proud to support the Agility Prime program as the Velis enters its fleet.”

Pipistrel, headquartered in Slovenia, said the Velis Electro stands out as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly choice for flight training, with its mature electric engine design developed in-house by Pipistrel. Company president Gabriel Massey emphasizes the aircraft’s remarkable potential.

“The Velis Electro is a cost-effective and sustainable option for flight training,” Massey said. “With its mature electric engine design…the Velis Electro leads the industry in carrying out more sustainable pilot training and other missions.”

Two Velis Electro aircraft will be directly supported by Pipistrel’s distributor, Lincoln Park Aviation, which the company believes marks a stride toward a greener, more sustainable future in aviation.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

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In fact, we are already doing it, according to key industry leaders from ZeroAvia, Daher, Textron eAviation, Pilatus, and Elixir, at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s luncheon. “GA is the solution to this,” said Kyle Martin, GAMA vice president of European affairs.

The event focused squarely on illuminating that message so that those who were there could spread it beyond the walls of Messe Friedrichshafen—and beyond the confines of the general aviation industry into the greater world that needs to understand it. Rather than being an easy target for blame under the auspices of climate change, GA already demonstrates the innovative answers that are possible. Stopping flying is not the answer—flying in better and more sustainable ways will be.

Eric Hinson, GAMA chairman for 2023 and president and CEO of Simcom International, kicked off the lunch with his observations. “I’m going to begin by talking just a little bit about the importance of GA—and I think that’s an important message that we in the industry need to do a better job of communicating. [GA] is basically a connectivity tool that connects people, product, and services.” Those not in GA see it through a myopic view—the high net-worth individual who gets out of a jet—and not for the intrinsic value it provides to nearly everyone in some way.”

Those companies working on solutions in both short- and long-range segments include, according to Hinson, GAMA members and others which are “working on hydrogen-powered solutions…[and] working on electric propulsion to replace fossil-based fuels—and so I’m very confident that over the next 10 to 15 years we are going to see significant advancements in our capability to replace fossil-based fuel for short-range flying. That’s happening here in Europe as well as in the United States. 

“The other area that is equally important is really focused on long-range flying, because we’re always going to have a power-density problem for some time to come—so the long-range solution there is a lot tougher. And of course, the answer there is sustainable aviation fuel.”

There are several legitimate concerns about the current implementation of SAF both in Europe and North America. The first lies in its composition—what biosource it’s derived from, and whether corn-based, cooking oil-based, or various silage-based processes. A second concern lies in how “green” the process of making the fuel is—such as the source of electricity for the manufacturing plant—and how much energy is used in delivering the fuel from its production facility to the distribution points on airports. As Martin would sum up later in the program, in pointing out the value of the book and claim system that allows operators to take credits for SAF entered into the fuel stream: “Trucking tanks of SAF from a Neste factory in Finland to the south of Spain is not the most sustainable approach.”

A corollary to this lies in the current state of electric propulsion, which we have seen this week in several spots on the show floor at AERO—Pipistrel and H55, for two examples—but both directed at short-hop training flights and perceived by some as having limited value to the marketplace.

It’s easy for naysayers to throw rocks at these efforts, but the fact is we won’t get to a solution unless we work on the problems and try new things.

The State of GA in Europe

Martin followed Hinson at the luncheon with his insights into the status of the general and business aviation industries in the EU and UK, including the recovery post-pandemic and political elements affecting both that return to “normal” and moving forward.

“The great news is that we are powering through the COVID recovery,” said Martin. “We are showing growth across all four main product sectors, whether it’s piston airplanes for the training market, turboprop airplanes for the transportation and air services market…the business jet market is growing and coming back—it’s being held back a bit by supply chain constraints, but many new products are coming to the market and that will help boost numbers in the years ahead. And the helicopter market’s finally coming back.”

In addition, traffic numbers reflect the normalizing of the GA industry, with 2022 IFR traffic numbers showing “strong growth versus 2021,” as Martin noted.

Martin also emphasized the value of GA in sustainability problem solving: “Our industry is absolutely the incubator and the growth engine for sustainable and safe aviation technology.” Yes, it’s simply easier to innovate and iterate using small aircraft—we witness all the time how new tech in our GA cockpits “trickles up” to larger platforms until it makes it onto a Part 25 transport category jet a decade—or more—later. At Oshkosh this summer, you’re certain to see an airline captain gazing wistfully at the instrument panel on an RV-series. The most innovative solutions will happen first in the skunkworks of our GA manufacturers, the labs of small but feisty aerospace startups, and in the hangars of our kitbuilders. The first applications may be limited in scope—but that’s the point. You want to test things on a small batch first.

Industry Panel on Workforce, Energy

In parallel to the discussion of sustainability is attracting the workforce that will develop it. To this end, the discussion turned to an industry panel led by Cate Brancart, GAMA’s manager for European operations and safety. 

The panel featured:

• Cyril Champenois, co-founder and CMO of Elixir Aircraft
• Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s Aircraft Division
• Jane Lefley, strategy associate for ZeroAvia
• Rob Scholl, president and CEO of Textron eAviation
• Urs Thomann, director of technologies and processes, Pilatus Aircraft

Scholl’s organization—newly formed to consolidate Textron’s efforts in several future-leaning sectors—represents well the human energy derived from a company’s dedication to innovation. “We are seeing a lot of people express interest in coming to work for our organization,” said Scholl, “because everything that we’re doing right now—as you see from this group on stage—is new…For those people who want to take on the challenge in this exciting industry, these projects offer a unique opportunity to really get into something that no one in the world has done before.”

That’s a key part of the GA story we need to tell, according to the panelists.

Specifically, bringing young people into GA OEMs is another goal—and one that Elixir seems to have done naturally, with an average age of 34 or 35, according to Champenois. “We are at a turning point in general aviation,” he said, regarding not only energy sources but the way aircraft are manufactured to reduce parts count and streamline processes. “We feel that [the younger generation] was kind of lost for the past 20 years because nothing was really moving.”

A market-based approach will provide the most practical solutions. “We all know that we have the difficult challenge [ahead] to transition to the alternative fuels,” said Chabbert. “This is something that is a ‘must.’ We all know that this is on our trajectory to become neutral by 2050—it’s a key element to our strategy. But…let’s go back to the roots. What is the market wanting? ‘Cause if we’re just about to propose a bunch of technologies, I think we’re probably going to miss the main thing that we’re doing, [which] is to address the market needs.”

As for attracting new entrants to the workforce, Daher relies upon its apprenticeship program. “We have renewed our workforce, and the way that we do that is through apprentices—we have doubled the number of apprentices about every year, so it is a growing number of new people to us.” The younger generation is environmentally sensitive, he added, “so I think they are also after a project that is going to rehabilitate Earth.” Of the apprentices they engage, 80 percent transition to full-time employment, according to Chabbert.

“Agility is one thing that is going to be important,” said Thomann. “If the workforce is agile in selecting their employers, then the employers have to become agile as well.” A diverse workforce is a critical piece too—and across the industry panel, they discussed how they are helping to grow the applicant pool so that the best and brightest minds get the education they need and become visible to the companies that need their talents. Pilatus has also recently implemented better compensation strategies to help attract and retain the people it wants in the organization—instead of keeping bonuses until the end of the year, they incorporate the higher pay rate in a much more transparent way so that its personnel can plan more accurately.

In order to ensure a diverse talent pool, Chabbert added: “We need to bring in schools—I mean, it is not new, it is nothing that has not been done, it is something that we stopped doing. We have to resume and get the schools into our plans so [the students] can actually practice, and get themselves exposed to the different jobs. With the kind of diversity that we’re talking about, it is data management with a technology-driven approach.”

Telling the GA Story

All of these topics circle back around to one critical concern: Many governments around the world appear to be moving against the GA industry, setting targets for carbon emissions that may not be realistic. If we don’t achieve those goals, will the rug be pulled out from under us? That question was the final one put to the panel—poignant at AERO because of recent movements in the Netherlands’ Schiphol Airport to propose a ban on business jets, and there’s legislation in France seeking to reduce or stop short-haul flights—or the insane idea we might ban flying altogether in order to achieve net-zero.

To combat this, we need to take control of the narrative. “We have to educate… we are not a victim…we have to be proud of saying our story—and say it loud and clear: that is what we do and why we do it,” said Chabbert. “We need to make our story and to praise it.”

Lefley concurred: “I agree with you—I think the industry faces an existential threat ultimately, which is why new technology like what ZeroAvia is doing is so critical. One of the things we need to do is to educate governments and the public about the fact that people are doing this already, and that it can be done safely.

“I think it’s easier to use technology than to force everyone to stop flying,” she concluded.

It’s a global story we must tell, and the examples set in the EU—making progress on regulatory coordination and public understanding—will provide a roadmap for the innovation of the industry to drive us forward.

The post General Aviation Has a Great Sustainability Story To Tell appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“We have a little different expectation of what the aircraft will be capable of at [type certification],” said Rob Scholl, in an exclusive interview with FLYING. Scholl is CEO of Textron eAviation, under which the Pipistrel business unit resides. “The biggest change to the plan is that we want the airplane to be night IFR capable at entry into service. We also think we have the opportunity to bring the G1000 NXi avionics platform to the airplane.”

“There’s just some flight test that needs to be done to wrap up the program,” Scholl continued. “About a two-year timeframe is reasonable to get that through EASA, and then hopefully over through the FAA through the bilateral agreements.”

“The Panthera is going to be a game changer for the light aircraft segment,” said Gabriel Massey, president and managing director at Pipistrel, in a statement. “With capacity for up to four people, a range of 1,100 miles and a cruising speed of 230 miles per hour, this is a high-performance aircraft that will enable traveling at longer distances in great comfort. The Panthera is the ultimate answer for those looking for speed, fuel efficiency, and IFR capability.”

Flying Now—Under Experimental Regs

About a dozen of the Pantheras are already flying in the U.S. under the experimental exhibition category, as Scholl confirmed. The company benefits from real-world feedback from those aircraft in service—though they run the risk of being somewhat orphaned following the changes needed to make TC. However, Scholl doesn’t foresee much of a hurdle here. “The nice thing is, I don’t think there are large-scale requirements to the airplane right now, so those airplanes that are out there, we’ll continue to support them.”

“When [Pipistrel U.S. distributors Andy Chan and Shavonna Reid] mention something to us, we listen to them about the Panthera,” said Scholl, as the pair have been flying the model extensively over the past couple of years from their base at Right Rudder Aviation in Inverness, Florida (KINF).

Powerplant for Initial TC?

The Panthera has been under development with the intent that it could accept a selection of powerplants up front, depending on where the airplane would operate—and the needs of the customer. In fact, last September, Pipistrel flew a hybrid-electric version of the Panthera in Slovenia as a demonstration of the concept. “Good feedback from that—I think it performed well,” said Scholl. “We will continue the development of that platform. I just don’t think we’re ready yet to put a timeline on when that would be available on the marketplace.”

“It could obviously add a sustainability benefit to [the Panthera] and hopefully that will be something that the market will be looking for.”

But Textron eAviation will focus on the engine currently installed in aircraft flying in the U.S.—the Lycoming IO-540V-V4A5—for the initial type certification. “That’s obviously what’s in the aircraft now—for speed, we’re going to focus on that,” said Scholl. 

The Lycoming powerplant also looks like it will be a good match for whatever unleaded fuels come out of the EAGLE (Eliminate Aviation Gas Lead Emission) initiative. “I know Lycoming—they’re part of Textron—they’re looking at those initiatives as well,” he said. “We plan on supporting it at the Textron level when those [fuels] are available. We need the supply chain to come together to (a), produce it, regulators to approve it, and then make it available, so we’ll work on those [fuels] as we can.”

On the Velis Electro

While Scholl said that hybrid-electric is not “a complete solution,” it fits in well with the ethos of Textron eAviation. “[For now] there will still be a carbon aspect to it—but we sometimes get wrapped around the fact that we can’t solve the entire ‘lifecycle of the carbon’ aspect—let’s go do our part. We can try to get to a mogas [solution]—most of the Pipistrel products run on mogas today—and we’ve got the Velis, which is electric; we’ll continue that development. We’ve got the Panthera, which is hybrid-electric, so, [we’re] doing what we can through the spaces that we control to help improve the sustainability of aviation.”

The Velis Electro is “a fun airplane to fly,” Scholl agreed—and yes, there’s something odd about holding short of the runway with no engine running, but pilots will likely get used to it should the airplane become widely adopted.

“It’s capable within the vicinity of the airport,” said Scholl, “so if you’ve got an airport that you can go do maneuvers near, or you want to do pattern work, it will suit that mission right now. We’re focused on continuing the development of the platform—I don’t think the airframe [contains] anything that’s a challenge to us. What we’re waiting on is the intersection of the batteries and the airframe, because the airframe has to be a certain size to carry the necessary batteries.”

“I think Tine [Tomažič] and the Pipistrel team have a really good handle on the battery situation, and they’re really the only company in the world that’s done it. We’re not talking about it yet, but I think we have a plan for when we would see the next generation of electric propulsion come out,” Scholl concluded.

The Nuuva and UAM

The other part of Textron eAviation is the Nexus team, which is focused on urban air mobility (UAM). “That effort has shifted from being based with Bell to being based with the eAviation team,” said Scholl. “We’re still pulling resources from Bell…from Textron Aviation.“

“The reason why that’s important is that if you look at what Pipistrel brings to table, they obviously bring a product portfolio and a customer base that is really strong—they’ve delivered about 3,000 aircraft. But the Velis Electro is a great base to test the technology—the technology itself and with the regulators. You can take the learnings from that platform and apply [them] to the Panthera, which [has] a relatively known customer base with the infrastructure [that] already exists, to test out the technology so the regulators are comfortable with a fixed-wing aircraft like that. 

“The learnings from both those platforms can be applied to the Nuuva program, at Pipistrel, and a lot of the electric aspects of the Nuuva [V300] derive from the Velis technology. So, the motors, the battery systems—while the Velis is a new and novel design, the underlying technology of the aircraft is known to Pipistrel.”

“We’re doing flight controls, we’re doing electric propulsion, we’re doing thermal management around the motors and the batteries, so for us, the addition of Pipistrel gives us a logical step to bring different products to the marketplace, than being focused on one product..Pipistrel’s engineering team, their experience there, building and selling electric airplanes for a decade—it’s hard to buy that time and experience.”

Textron eAviation is actively working on the path to FAA certification on the Electro, which gained EASA certification in June 2020. “We’re talking with the FAA about the Velis…it’s been TC’ed by EASA, we just got U.K. validation, I don’t know that we’ve announced it yet but we just got the Mexico validation for the Velis, so we are checking the boxes around the world. 

“We need the FAA to work with us. There had been some work done between Pipistrel and the FAA prior to COVID, for various reasons during COVID it kind of stalled, so we’ve reinvigorated it. 

“I am hopeful that we will get a near-term path with the FAA to allow flight training in the Velis, because I think it will allow benefits to those flight schools, a lower cost—it’s about a fourth the cost of a combustion engine airplane [to operate], and it’s quiet, so you have less impact on the community.”

Scholl believes that eAviation has identified the specific knots to untangle. “The challenge for the FAA is that it is a new and novel technology to them, and the light sport rules with the FAA are a challenge. I have combed through the regulations in this area, and there’s a line in the light-sport classification that says it’s required to be a reciprocating engine. Otherwise, there’s nothing in the light sport rules that prohibit the Velis.”

For the near term, boosting the Electro’s operational capability in the U.S. under the current approval is the primary concern. “We are discussing with the FAA what the path looks like to bring this to a validation or some sort of certification level with the FAA.”

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The Longitude MPA is optimized to loiter, with an eight-hour endurance and a 3,500-nm range. A belly-mounted transmissive radome allows for the operation of maritime radar equipment. The package also includes a beyond line of sight (BLOS) fairing, electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor lift, and optional night vision goggle (NVG) compatible lighting.

“The Cessna Citation Longitude jet provides an excellent value for special mission operations due to its acquisition cost and operation cost combined with excellent speed, range and payload capacity,”  said Bob Gibbs, vice president of special mission sales for Textron Aviation, in a statement.

“Textron Aviation has developed and had certified factory provisions for various mission equipment supporting maritime patrol and surveillance missions, maximizing value for operations worldwide,” said Gibbs. The company expects this Longitude to serve on border patrol, search-and rescue missions, and fishery monitoring, among other deployments.

Cessna Citation Longitude (standard)

Oshkosh Fleet

Textron Aviation will present several new aircraft as part of its exhibit at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this week.

The recently flown Beechcraft Denali is still missing from the Oshkosh lineup—attendees can see the mockup that the company has had on display in prior years. The Denali is back on track for FAA certification after delays in the GE Catalyst engine program added a bit of unforeseen drag to the project. 

The King Air 260 will be there to see in person, plus the Citation M2 Gen 2, and the updated Cessna Turbo 182T Skylane.

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