KingAirNation covers event news and supports key market companies in the King Air industry on first anniversary since launch
The 60th Annual EAA AirVenture event and fly-in, held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is sadly over until next year but with attendance well past 500,000, maintaining the level of attendance from last year, we wouldn’t have missed it for anything!
It has been one full year since KingAirNation launched at EAA AirVenture in 2012. We were very happy to return to the site of our launch and it was fantastic to see some familiar faces from last year! We have returned from our trip to Oshkosh with some insights into this year’s event, as it pertains to the KingAir industry.
Perhaps the most buzz going around was coming from the Beechcraft exhibit. Early into the week, the company secured an order for 105 KingAir 350i’s – a feat that was buzzing throughout the booths and hangars at the show.
Another big source of news in the King Air industry was a milestone mutually reached by Beechcraft and Pratt & Whitney Canada – the Delivery of P&WC’s 80,000 engine, a PT6A-60A which will power a King Air 350i. At the exhibit, a nice plaque was on display to celebrate this great accomplishment between the two companies.
On display at the Beechcraft exhibit was – a C90GTx, a 200, and a 350i, in addition to other Beechcraft aircraft. If you were at the show but were unable to swing by the company’s exhibit, you missed out on some very snazzy Beechcraft sunglasses!
Blackhawk Modifications and Raisbeck Engineering, two major players in the King Air industry, were at the show promoting their collaborative push of the Blackhawk EPIC XPR Series – a new series by the two companies including Raisbeck’s EPIC PLATINUM and Blackhawk’s engine upgrades for 200 and B200 King Airs.
In addition to the XPR Series, Blackhawk was promoting their new “BLACKHAWK STRONG” campaign at their also-impressive exhibit. Word on the street is that there might be KingAir on display next year as well!
On Friday, we spent some time hanging out at the Rockwell Collins booth. The company was demoing their ProLine 21 and ProLine Fusion avionics systems, and says the Fusion is the “future of the King Air cockpit,” and that it will be in production approximately 8-9 months.
Collins also demoed a product that’s currently in development – the Heads Up Guidance System. This brings the ProLine Synthetic Vision to a whole new level, allowing the pilot to get a real time view of the landscape as well as current aircraft and flight readings all in one place, without the need for a projector thanks to LED technology.
In celebration of both of these great products, Rockwell Collins held the “Heads Up Guidance System Challenge.” Booth visitors could play the new HGS Flight app (developed by Rockwell Collins), which features both the ProLine Fusion and the Heads Up Guidance System in a iPad game in which the user must land the aircraft on a runway in different types of conditions using the Fusion and the Heads Up Guidance System. The contender with the highest score at the end of the week won an iPad mini! We gave it a try ourselves, and we must say, it’s extremely hard. If you’d like to give it a go and see these future products featured, you can download the app for your iPad here.
The big question: Will the Heads Up Guidance System fit in KingAir?!?!
B/E Aerospace Ice Shield was displaying their Wing De-icers. We stopped by the exhibit and checked out how their system prepares your aircraft to encounter in-flight icing conditions. They work by inflating tubular channels with either bleed air or exhaust from the vaccum pump. This burst of air dislodges accumulated ice cleanly, efficiently and effectively. Check out www.iceshield.com for more details.
The KingAir industry had some very strong support at this year’s event. In addition to the companies we already listed, we connected with two leaders in KingAir simulator training, SIMCOM and FlightSafety. They were each discussing their current and upcoming simulator courses including Simcom’s FAA Part 142 courses for the KingAir B200 and C90A/B coming this Fall and the first KingAir 350 and B200 interchangeable flight simulator by FlightSafety.
Garmin’s exhibit was always slammed as they demoed their G1000 avionics unit and put on various talks and seminars during the week. GlobalParts was at the event for the first time (congrats guys!) connecting with their customers and talking about their recent launch of their FAA Repair Station. Another KingAirNation sponsor we had the chance to connect with was Wings Insurance. Although they were not exhibiting, they were connecting with customers throughout the week and discussing their private, corporate and fixed base operators support. You can find out more on Wings here: http://kingairnation.com/category/blog/training-safety/.
Parker Cleveland Wheel’s and Brakes were exhibiting as we talked about their conversion kits available for the KingAir’s and their approval to be used with the Centex Aerospace HALO 250 STC for the KingAir 200 Gross Weight Increase. More details here: http://kingairnation.com/parker-cleveland-wheels-brakes-expands-king-air-wheel-and-brake-conversion-kit-offerings/
A few propeller shops were represented for the KingAir’s including Hartzell Propller and MT Propeller. As many know, Hartzell and Raisbeck teamed up on the recently new Swept Prop’s, which also received their EASA certification. MT Propeller had a 5-bladed prop on display, which is available for the KingAir 90 and 200 series. You can find more details here: http://www.mt-propeller.com/en/entw/stcs.htm
If you’re in aviation, we’re sure you’ve watched every episode of The Aviators right?! Well if you happened to be at EAA Airventure on a special night, our friends at Sennheiser premiered the first episode of the new season! You can learn more about The Aviators here: http://www.theaviators.tv and more about Sennheiser here: http://sennheiser-aviation.com/home. Stay tuned for more details on Sennheiser and the KingAir very soon!
Last but certainly not least, Pratt & Whitney Canada’s marketing site for the PT6 engine called, PT6Nation.com, was in full effect this week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the PT6 engine. If you’re not following their site, swing over and check out all the great details. Long live the KingAir and the PT6!http://www.pt6nation.com/en/
The list goes on and on… We are extremely proud of the companies in this industry who are as crazy about the KingAir as we are. More importantly, we are extremely proud of you, the KingAir owner, operator, pilot, mechanic, enthusiast and fanatic, who gives these companies a reason to continue offering great products and services for the aircraft we love.
This past year has been a big year for the KingAir market and we look forward to brining you more news from the industry and events in the upcoming year! Stay tuned for some details covering the first year of KingAirNation soon! Goodbye for now Oshkosh!
Comments? Questions? News? We love your feedback. Shoot us an email at info@kingairnation.com/wordpress or contact us through our social channels below:
Twitter.com/KingAirNation
Instagram.com/KingAirNation
LinkedIn.com/company/KingAirNation
