Textron Aviation

You can be a CFI.

You can work for Textron Aviation.

You can ferry big planes.

You can do anything, essentially, in aviation and still-

Tecnam is not the only manufacturer thinking along these lines.

Pipistrel, before their acquisition by Textron Aviation, was pushing hard on efficiency and electric propulsion.

Cessna's Skycatcher program is ancient history, but Textron is watching the market.

Diamond has been building composite airplanes with diesel engines for years.

I'm Tower on Radio Hangar's ATIS, and today we're talking about the aircraft that might fly that mission without anyone on board.

Textron Aviation and an autonomous flight developer called Merlin have unveiled a concept version of the Cessna SkyCourier modified to fly without a pilot.

No crew, no cockpit occupants, just the airplane, the sensors, and the software doing the work.

Let's break down what this actually is, who built it, why it matters, and then let's talk about where this is headed for the rest of aviation.

It changes what airmanship looks like.

Now, Textron's role in this partnership is worth a moment of attention.

Textron Aviation is one of the most significant general aviation manufacturers in the world.

Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Citation, these are Textron brands.

They have been producing composite aircraft primarily at the lighter and more efficient end of the market for nearly forty years.

In twenty twenty-two, Textron Aviation acquired Pipistrel.

If you know that name, you know what that means.

Textron owns Cessna.

They exist because other pilots already had problems in exactly those locations.

Moving to the manufacturing side of the industry, Textron Aviation reported this week that Cessna Skyhawk deliveries are running ahead of schedule for the third quarter of 2026.

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is the most produced general aviation aircraft in history, with more than 44,000 built since 1956, and the production line in Wichita, Kansas is still active.

If the training market is absorbing Skyhawks at a pace that has Textron ahead of schedule, that is a meaningful signal about flight school enrollment.

The FAA Air Traffic Organization Controller Staffing Report.

The NTSB Quarterly Runway Incursion Analysis.

Textron Aviation's Third Quarter Production Update.

Garmin's GI-275 Approval Announcement.

Cirrus sits squarely in that zone.

Piper, Textron Aviation with Cessna and Beechcraft, Diamond, Tecnam, and others are still shipping.

But the premium segment is where the billings volume concentrates.

And Cirrus owns that premium piston territory in a way that has been remarkably durable across multiple market cycles.

Brian Roloff has joined that organization 29 years ago.

He joined, but he's now been promoted as president and CEO of Textron Aviation as of 1st of September.

We've also got a new CEO of ZeroAvia, so the joint US-UK hydrogen propulsion developer.

Christine Ormia-Wiedner has been appointed CEO of that.

And our first story is after eight years as president and CEO, Ron Draper announces retirement.

Brian Roloff to lead Textron Aviation forward.

So this is all effective actually today as we record this, August 31st.

Ron Draper retired from his role as president and CEO of Textron, and Brian Roloff replacing him.

Uh, earlier this year in April, they announced that they were going to, um, spin off some, uh, or its industrial segment, so Caltex, w- which is mostly an automotive, uh, supplier.

They wanna spin that off, and also Textron specialized vehicles, which, uh, is aerospace and defense, but they also do, well, as their name says, specialized vehicles, turf care, fuel systems, some other things.

So spinning those off sort of re-positions Textron as a, uh, pretty much purely an aerospace and defense company that being built around Textron Aviation, Bell, and Textron Systems.

I don't know, uh, what it signals for the future of, uh, Cessna.

Beta is solving that systematically, and that matters.

Then there's Textron Aviation, which includes Pipestrel under its umbrella.

Pipestrel has been building certified electric aircraft longer than almost anyone in this sector.

Their Veilus Electra holds a European Union Aviation Safety Agency-type certificate, making it one of the very few electric aircraft certified for flight training.