Textron Aviation’s Enlarged Footprint at AirVenture 2025
Cessna’s new C-408 SkyCourier on display at Oshkosh this year. Cessna is part of Textron Aviation
Story and photos by Ken Kula
Textron Aviation is a familiar name, but at this year’s EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, I learned that the familiar name contains many more connections to other brands than came to mind. Textron Aviation is a very large company which includes the brands of Cessna, Beechcraft, Bell, and now Pipistrel. Additionally, Textron Aviation builds the U. S. military’s T-6 Texan II trainer and produces Lycoming aircraft engines and McCauley propellers. And though its acquisition of Beechcraft, it still supports Hawker business jets.
During multiple discussions with sales, media and technical personnel who represented Cessna, Beechcraft, Pipistrel, and Bell, I learned much about their products from many angles, I learned about how the new SkyCourier will accept standard jet airliner cargo containers because the floor of the Skycourier is fitted with the same rollers and catches that jet freighters have. I learned that the new Beechcraft KingAir 360 has a modified extended range version – the KingAir 360ER version with less cargo space behind the engine attachment area (called lockers) but additional fuel tanks in their place, and beefier landing gear to support the fuel’s weight. Pipistrel’s different aircraft types perform diverse roles, especially with their Velis Electro making headway into the alternative fuel-powered aircraft marketplace.
Here are a few examples of Textron’s familiar brands of aircraft which were on the AirVenture grounds this year:
Cessna’s C-208 Grand Caravan with an under-fuselage cargo bin.
The year 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the Cessna C-208 Caravan’s introduction into service.
The Cessna SkyCourier is offered in a trio of versions: this freighter, a 19-passenger regional airliner, or a combination version with 9 passenger seats and room for freight container(s). FedEx has taken delivery of at least twenty of the freighter versions of the aircraft as of October 2025.
The SkyCourier cargo variant has a large door which easily handles three LD-3 full-sized air freight containers.
The Cessna C-182 Skylane design is 70 years old in 2025, and some 23,000 airframes have been built. The Skylane began as a tricycle-gear version of the popular C-180 Skywagon, as requested during the 1950s.
The Cessna C-172 Skyhawk is celebrating its first 70 years in production this year too. Over 44,000 Skyhawks have been produced, here’s one of the newest – the Cessna C-172S Skyhawk SP.
The Cessna Stationair’s lineage began with the Cessna C-210 Centurion. This Turbo Stationair HD is the latest version of the six-passenger carrying model.
This is a Cessna Citation M2 Gen 2 (Second Generation) light jet capable of carrying up to seven passengers or flying up to 1550 miles in one hop.
Another Textron company is Beechcraft. This is the new Beechcraft Denali; the big single-engined turboprop can carry between six and nine passengers, depending upon its chosen mission.
Bell is another Textron Aviation company. Bell’s 429 helicopter serves multiple roles: VIP and executive transport, medivac, public safety and offshore/energy support. This example has an executive interior.
The Pipistrel Panthera is a conventionally-powered aircraft designed by the Pipistrel company of Slovenian and Italian lineage.
Pipistrel Aircraft began operations in Slovenia. The company has developed a series of light aircraft with intriguing capabilities. Textron Aviation has joined with Pipistrel to form the Textron eAviation company and has launched the Velis Electro all-electric airplane.
The Sinus Max is in reality a motor-glider whose engine can be switched off in flight and will glide for a fair distance.
The Virus SW is a NASA award-winning design for efficiency, with a service ceiling of 18,000 feet.
The Velis Electro is a true electric LSA aircraft now operating in the United States.
The Velis Electro can boast of an endurance of about an hour in the air on a single charge, which is plenty of time for an expected episode of flight instruction, as envisioned by the design of the aircraft.
Textron Aviation is quite a large company which covers a lot of aviation concerns… from jet aircraft to light planes, Light Sport aircraft to engines and propellers, and a lot more in the middle too.
