The SkyCourier, a high-wing, twin-turboprop utility design, will join Hinterland’s large fleet of Cessna Grand Caravans, bringing an increase in passenger seating and payload. Textron said expansion of the Hinterland fleet will benefit the remote communities that the airline serves as well as tourism and other businesses in Queensland.

“The SkyCourier’s incredible performance makes it a reliable business tool for customers all over the world,” said Lannie O’Bannion, senior vice president of global sales and flight operations for Textron Aviation. “With the ability to load, fly, unload, and repeat—along with low operating costs and maximum cabin flexibility—the SkyCourier is a game-changer in regional connectivity.”

A single pilot can operate the SkyCourier, which is designed to be adaptable to a range of passenger, freight, and special-mission flights. It is available in both freighter and passenger versions, with the 19-passenger model boasting crew and traveler doors for easier boarding. Both configurations offer single-point pressure refueling for rapid turnaround. 

• READ MORE: Textron Aviation Delivers First Passenger Cessna SkyCourier

“We are thrilled to announce our order of the new Cessna SkyCourier,” said Andrew Clair, CEO of Hinterland Aviation. “The aircraft will be a valuable addition to our fleet, allowing us to better serve our clients’ individual needs with room for 19 passengers and access to remote runways. The SkyCourier will serve as an important tool to help grow our business, and we will be proud to be the first airline customer in Australia to operate this aircraft.”

The aircraft is powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-65SC engines with McCauley C779 propellers. The 110-inch, four-blade props have full feathering with reverse pitch. The aircraft is equipped with Garmin G1000 NXi avionics and boasts a maximum cruise speed of more than 200 ktas and range of 900 nm.

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Textron Aviation has delivered the first of its twin turboprop SkyCouriers to Western Air—doing business as Lana’i Air in Hawaii—which plans to operate the model on its interisland routes connecting Oahu to resorts on Lana’i.

• READ MORE: Cessna SkyCourier Expands Capability With Gravel Kit Option

“The Cessna SkyCourier is well on its way to becoming a legendary aircraft for our company,” said Lannie O’Bannion, senior vice president of global sales and flight operations for Textron Aviation. “It’s highly versatile, with cabin flexibility, payload capability, performance, and low operating costs, and has already proven to be popular around the world.”

The passenger configuration swaps out the rear cargo door and open area to fit three LD3 shipping containers for an up to 19 passenger-seat installation—with large windows suitable for viewing the incredible scenery between Honolulu and Lana’i. With a 900-nm range and 200 kts cruise speed, the SkyCourier targets the short-haul mission well. 

While the SkyCourier was delivered in the passenger configuration, the cabin design makes exchanging the seating for a cargo-only profile relatively easy.

• READ MORE: Textron Delivers First Cessna SkyCourier to FedEx Express

The SkyCourier is powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-65SC turboprop engines, paired with McCauley C779 full-feathering, 110-inch, four-blade props. Up front, the flight deck features the Garmin G1000 NXi integrated avionics suite.

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The selections within the pool for buyers offer well-targeted capability and niche design—and the segment continues to attract new entrants from the original equipment manufacturers specializing in these mounts. Daher has led the way in 2022, with the introduction of two new models to its portfolio, the autoland-capable TBM 960 (successor to the 940) and the Kodiak 900, a serious reimagining of the backcountry hauler into a much faster baby. The 900 provides a different flavor of competition for the Cessna Grand Caravan EX—though the classic from Textron Aviation still comes in lower on price point, and you can’t put a 900 on floats—yet. Stay tuned.

Updates from Epic on the E1000 GX preserve speed while upgrading the useful load: You can pack in five adults, a show’s worth of bags, and full fuel—and stay under the maximum takeoff weight of 8,000 pounds. The Pilatus PC-12 NGX is sold out well into 2024, proving the endurance of that model’s attraction—and the M600/SLS Halo (also with autoland) and the M500 from Piper offer an easy step up from high-performance piston singles and twins.

On the multiengine side, Textron Aviation added the Cessna SkyCourier officially to its lineup in 2022, redefining the top end of its twin-turboprop product line. Deliveries to launch customer FedEx started earlier this year in the freighter version, while a passenger model seats up to 19 people. 

Turboprop sales suffered a bit from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, falling from 525 deliveries in 2019 to 443 in 2020, with a rebound to 527 in 2021. The year thus far portends a return to rosy skies for the segment: Through June 2022, GA turboprop manufacturers reported 247 shipments with projections for an even stronger second half of the year. That runs counter to many years, when fourth quarter sales soften. However, lease rates on aircraft also tend to become more favorable at year end, and may combine in 2022 with a bump in sales closings in December when the U.S. faces a potential loss of recent tax advantages on aircraft purchases—as long as rising interest rates don’t spoil the party.

According to Lou Seno, chairman emeritus of Jet Support Services, a provider of hourly cost maintenance programs for aircraft engines and airframes, this could have a real effect on the last quarter. “In 2023, we go back to the regular depreciation schedule,” says Seno, as the bonus depreciation schedules implemented for aircraft placed in service after September 27, 2017, and before January 1, 2023, are no longer available—unless there is an extension granted to the IRS code.

For those owner-pilots and businesses looking to add a capable turboprop like a Beechcraft King Air 360 as a capital investment this year, the timing may be just right—if they have an order in or can negotiate a place in line. Most manufacturers are taking positions well into next year—or the year after.

Single-Engine Turboprop

Multiengine Turboprop

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FLYING’s Innovation Award

National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)

For the association’s ability to guide a broad range of constituents to deliver and use a game-changing way to power our aircraft, we present this year’s Innovation Award to NBAA in acknowledgment of its efforts to lead the industry both vocally and behind the scenes in the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

NBAA has joined with other associations (such as IBAC, GAMA, and NATA), and aircraft manufacturers, such as Embraer, Gulfstream, Textron Aviation, Daher, and many others, to make SAF—made by producers like Gevo and Neste, and distributed by AvFuel, World Fuel Services, and others serving FBOs around the world—a viable and timely fuel for the GA marketplace.

Readers’ Choice Award

NASA Ingenuity

To execute a first flight of a new aircraft marks a significant milestone for any organization. But to achieve a first flight of a tiny rotorcraft on a distant planet—and have it go far beyond its original mission—that’s what set NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team apart in 2021.

Our audience agreed with the National Aeronautic Association, which bestowed upon those responsible for its design, development, and execution the Robert J. Collier Trophy, awarded annually for the “greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America.” And at FLYING, we too watched in high anticipation on April 19, 2021, as the diminutive craft—just 19.3 inches tall—lifted off the dusty surface on what would become the first of its 29 missions… and counting.

Editors’ Choice Awards

Best New Aircraft

Cessna SkyCourier

A clean-sheet design created through a collaborative effort between Textron Aviation and launch customer FedEx Express, the Cessna SkyCourier represents one of the few aircraft to cross the FAA type certification finish line in 2021 and early 2022. But it’s certainly big enough to carry the honor well, as the company made its first deliveries this spring and through the summer of 2022. 

Powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-65SC engines driving four-blade McCauley aluminum props, the Cessna Model 408 comes in two standard configurations. In its freighter role, it can carry a payload of 6,000 pounds, and take off in a distance as short as 2,700 feet. In the passenger layout, up to 19 people can ride along to a range of 920 nm and at a max cruise speed of 210 ktas.

Best New Avionics

Garmin GI 275

When Garmin passed the milestone this summer of 25,000 integrated flight decks installed, the company had not been riding merely on the wave of its success in revolutionizing the instrument panels of GA aircraft. Its next grace note is a small, unassuming replacement instrument first introduced in 2020 that appears to be on its way to becoming as ubiquitous as the G1000 series avionics suite.

The GI 275 slides neatly into the round dial cutout left when a traditional analog instrument is removed from the instrument panel—and what it does from there is left up to the pilot’s desires. As a backup electronic flight instrument, it can take the place of an attitude indicator, airspeed indicator, and altimeter with its primary flight display function. Or it can segue into a multifunction display, with traffic, weather, and engine information system options, depending on the airplane.

Best New Gear

Flight Outfitters

A bag for every pilot—created by pilots and tested thoroughly by FLYING staff throughout the past three years. That’s what Flight Outfitters has developed over its lifetime, and we’ve found their flight bags, backpacks, duffels, luggage, and kneeboards to be some of the most durable and well thought-out designs on the market.

The brand encompasses an entire aviator’s lifestyle, but this is serious equipment that doesn’t just look good. With the tagline “Pilot Your Own Adventure,” the folks behind the company practice what they preach…which is likely why their products have hit the mark so solidly for pilots of all stripes.

Best New Training Innovation

Pipistrel Velis Electro

With so many great ways to train—and many tried-and-true airplanes in which to learn to fly—it takes a big disruptor to truly bring us a new way to fly through the standard syllabus. Enter Pipistrel’s Velis Electro. Now type certificated under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Velis Electro takes the tested Virus single—powered by a Rotax 912—and electrifies it with two battery packs onboard for an endurance of around 45 minutes, plus VFR reserves. 

While not yet enough to complete a full private pilot course without supplementing with traditionally powered aircraft, the Velis Electro can seriously drive down the cost and environmental footprint of initial training—when charged using a renewable energy source. With aircraft in testing at a handful of flight schools and universities in the U.S., it’s only a matter of time before the Velis Electro goes all the way. 

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The certification comes less than two years after the airplane’s first flight in May 2020.

The OEM announced the milestone on Monday morning. Production is already underway for the new clean-sheet model, and the company anticipates the ability to deliver the first units to launch customer, FedEx Express (NYSE: FDX), which has 50 on its initial fleet order and options for 50 more.

“Achieving FAA certification for the Cessna SkyCourier demonstrates the expertise and hard work of our employees, as well as Textron Aviation’s continued investment in providing solutions for our customers,” said Ron Draper, president and CEO, Textron Aviation. “Our clean-sheet design brings to this segment what customers said they need: the ability to load, fly, unload and repeat with low operating costs and maximum cabin flexibility and efficiency. We expect the SkyCourier to be a workhorse of the fleet for FedEx and many other customers around the globe for decades to come.”

SkyCourier Specifications

The new model made its first flight in 2020 with the first production model seeing daylight in early February.

Powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-65SC engines driving McCauley C779 four-blade, 110-inch-diameter propellers, the SkyCourier comes in both cargo and passenger configurations.

Features include:

• Garmin G1000 NXi integrated flight deck
• Large fuselage cargo door
• Flat floor
• Up to 6,000 pounds payload capacity; three LD3 shipping containers
• Single-point pressure refueling

The SkyCourier cruises at speeds over 200 ktas and up to a 900-nm maximum range. The passenger variant can hold up to 19 people plus pilot—with a separate crew door for flexibility in boarding.

The post Cessna SkyCourier Gains FAA Type Certification appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

And then there were three: Textron Aviation continues apace with its flight test program on the twin turboprop, the Cessna SkyCourier, adding a third test article to the pre-production fleet. The aircraft, P2 in company parlance, made its first flight on September 28, 2020, in Wichita. That initial flight, led by pilots Todd Dafton and Caleb Quick, spanned 90 minutes in which the SkyCourier reached an altitude of 15,000 feet msl and a speed of 210 ktas—above its planned maximum cruise speed of 200 ktas.

The pre-production aircraft serve a variety of missions, and P2 will be tasked with avionics testing, flammable fluids testing, and cold and hot weather tests in a climatic chamber used for the purpose at Eglin Air Force Base in northwest Florida. P2 joins the prototype in the future 19-seat passenger configuration—complete with windows and escape hatches—while P1 (the second test aircraft, which first flew in August) is in the 6,000-lb-payload freighter configuration. The prototype and P1 have logged 150 hours to date.

“The Cessna SkyCourier program continues progress through its milestones, and that’s a testament to the many great employees involved with this project,” said Chris Hearne, senior vice president, engineering and programs. “This most recent successful flight of our third test aircraft allows us to continue the great momentum we have created throughout the year. We will soon be starting line production in Wichita as we move closer to getting the Cessna SkyCourier into the hands of our customers.”

The flight deck of the SkyCourier features the Garmin G1000 NXi integrated avionics suite assisting in a smooth transition for pilots moving up from other single-engine turboprop platforms. The 900-nm maximum range is targeted for both short- and medium-haul passenger and cargo operations. Military applications are clearly being pursued as well, with the company recently tweeting a rendering of the SkyCourier wearing a proposed foreign military paint scheme.

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