The Beechcraft King Air 260 at Farnborough: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh
Textron Aviation returned to the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) this year as the industry leader with more than 1,700 Cessna and Beechcraft turbine aircraft based in Europe and more than 250,000 aircraft delivered worldwide. I was honoured to have been invited for a tour of the missionized King Air 260 aircraft at the static display. To be able to view the aircraft required special security clearance as is normal for any military and defense settings, even at Farnborough.
The Beechcraft King Air 260: Photo Copyright Textron
The Beechcraft King Air 260 marked its debut in Europe, and is a new military multi-engine training aircraft.
“The Beechcraft King Air 260 offers exceptional value for multi-engine military training due to its acquisition and operating costs, combined with excellent speed, range, and payload capacity,” said Bob Gibbs, Vice President of Special Mission Sales, Textron Aviation. “This next-generation training aircraft currently serves the U.S. Navy fleet and is ready to support the modernization of multi-engine military training worldwide.”
The Beechcraft King Air 260 at Farnborough: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh
This state-of-the-art aircrew training aircraft was recently chosen to modernize aircrew training for the United States Navy’s Multi-Engine Training System (METS) and the Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) program in Canada. Specific capabilities include factory options for TACAN (Air to Air), angle of attack (AOA), V/UHF radio, digital audio system, engine trend monitoring, condition-based maintenance plus, observer/jump seat, passenger mission seats and full-face oxygen masks.
“The Farnborough Airshow is a great venue to showcase our numerous commercial, defense, special mission and training solutions across our broad range of business platforms,” said Scott Donnelly, Textron’s Chairman and CEO. “For the first time ever, six of our businesses will be represented at an international show. Our full lineup will feature advanced rotorcraft, tactical turboprop and jet aircraft, precision weapons and unmanned aircraft; we look forward to meeting with customers and attendees from around the world who will experience our new and advanced products.”
This versatile aircraft continues to provide the cutting-edge touchscreen avionics technology in the cockpit,and even greater passenger comfort that you’ve come to expect from the King Air® turboprop family. Photo Copyright Navjot Singh
Textron Aviation aircraft are engineered to be flexible and accommodating to meet a number of mission specific challenges. Because this aircraft is primarily used for short military training flights, so there is no toilet on this aircraft. From Farnborough this aircraft flew to Glasgow, then onto Greenland, before heading over to make one or two more stops in North America before arriving at its intended destination: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh
The King Air® 260 turboprop features optional SiriusXM® weather adding greater capability to areas outside the continental U.S., including Canada and Puerto Rico. Photo Copyright Navjot Singh