Customer Service Engineer

Pipistrel Voyager flight schools pitch: €240k trainer targets pilot pipeline gap. Pipistrel's Voyager is being positioned as a lower-cost IFR-capable alternative for Pipistrel Voyager flight schools at a base price of €240,000, roughly half what a comparably equipped Cessna 172 Skyhawk costs today. Parent company Textron Aviation unveiled the two-seat trainer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh on 20 July 2026, with market entry planned for early 2027. Chris Crow, Vice President of Piston Sales at Textron Aviation, put the pricing contrast plainly. The 2026 base price of a Cessna 172 Skyhawk is $580,000, he said, and adding the autopilot commonly selected by flight schools pushes that to around $620,000. At roughly $275,000, the Voyager sits at less than half that figure. 'That means a flight school essentially can buy two Voyagers for the price of one 172,' Crow said. MOSAIC certification framework underpins the Voyager's design. Pipistrel designed the Voyager around the FAA's Modernisation of Special Airworthiness Certification regulations, known as MOSAIC. The framework allows larger and more capable aircraft to qualify under performance-based certification standards, giving manufacturers greater flexibility to introduce new technology while reducing development time and cost. Crow said Pipistrel's existing manufacturing capabilities were central to Textron's decision to bring the aircraft to market under the Pipistrel brand rather than through Cessna. 'Travel News didn't want to wait to be able to introduce a MOSAIC-capable aircraft,' he said. 'Travel News wanted to bring something to market much more quickly, and Pipistrel's capabilities allowed Travel News to do that.' Crow was clear that the Voyager is intended to complement rather than replace the Skyhawk, which he described as a proven platform that remains the trainer of choice for flight schools around the world. Cessna has delivered more than 45,000 Skyhawks since the model entered production in 1955, and Textron Aviation's order book for new Skyhawks currently extends into 2028. Nevertheless, Crow acknowledged that the product mix will shift. 'I think Travel News has to rethink the product strategy and the lineup, and where that balance is going to be between how many 172s Travel News produce and build versus how many Voyagers Travel News is able to produce and sell,' he said. Avionics and airframe specification for the Pipistrel Voyager flight schools market. The Voyager's cockpit centres on Garmin's Axis flight display system with touchscreen controls, a single-lever throttle, and a three-axis digital autopilot as standard equipment. The autopilot incorporates Garmin's Level button, electronic stability and protection, and workload-reduction functions. A haptic stall-warning system is also included, and the avionics suite can present aircraft, engine and systems data on full-screen or split-screen layouts. Day-and-night IFR capability comes as standard, addressing a recurring gap in the training-fleet economics of smaller schools. Powered by a 100-horsepower Rotax 912 ULS engine, the Voyager has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,389 pounds, a useful load of 552 pounds and a maximum range of 740 nautical miles with IFR reserves. Approval for intentional spins means schools can use the aircraft for spin recovery and upset recovery instruction alongside primary and instrument training. An integrated ballistic parachute is fitted as standard. Crow said the four-seat Skyhawk would be retained for cross-country flights and missions requiring additional seats or payload, with the Voyager handling primary instruction, time-building and instrument work. Epic Flight Academy confirmed as launch customer. Epic Flight Academy, the Florida-based operator that runs 12 locations across the United States and primarily flies Cessna Skyhawks, is the Voyager's launch customer, with plans to purchase as many as 50 aircraft. According to Textron Investor Relations, the academy also holds options for up to 20 additional aircraft in 2028 and a further 20 in 2029, suggesting a phased fleet transition that could ultimately see up to 90 Voyagers operating under its banner. AVweb reports that Epic Flight Academy operates flight training programmes under both FAA Part 61 and Part 141, meaning the Voyager will need to perform across regulatory frameworks that carry different aircraft-approval and syllabus requirements. That dual certification context adds weight to the choice of an aircraft with integrated IFR capability and an approved autopilot as standard equipment, rather than as a costly option. The Voyager is on static display at the Textron Aviation stand at AirVenture, where the show runs through 26 July 2026. Crow confirmed that Pipistrel has the production capacity to ramp up output at a pace that would be harder to replicate under the Cessna brand, positioning the Voyager to absorb demand should the launch customer relationship prove out over the initial delivery tranche. Ben Lockwood spent ten years in the travel industry before he started writing about it. He worked for a tour operator managing European destinations, moved to a hotel group running partnerships and distribution, and spent two years at an airline on the commercial side before the pandemic reshuffled the industry and his career along with it. He writes about destinations, airlines, hotels, and the travel industry that sits behind the booking page. He knows what load factors, ADR, and RevPAR mean and can explain them without putting the reader to sleep. Ben lives in Hampshire. He has a frequent flyer status he maintains out of stubbornness and an airport lounge ranking he updates mentally on every trip. 31/07/2026

Bell helicopter deliveries and revenues rise in Q2. Bell delivered 36 commercial helicopters, up from 32 in Q2 2025, although segment profit slipped 6% July 29, 2026 Bell delivered 36 commercial helicopters in the second quarter, up from 32 in the same period last year, as the rotorcraft manufacturer's revenues climbed 6%, to $1.1 billion. Segment profit, however, slipped 6%, to $75 million, as parent Textron Inc. applied what CEO Lisa Atherton described as a conservative booking rate on the U.S. Army's MV-75 Cheyenne tiltrotor program while awaiting a congressional decision on $350 million in redirected funding. Second-quarter commercial deliveries comprised eighteen 505s, eleven 407s, four 429s, and three 412s. That compares with seventeen 505s, eight 407s, four 429s, and three 412s in second-quarter 2025. Military deliveries totaled a single V-22 Osprey, down from three V-22s a year earlier. Through the first six months, Bell has handed over 56 commercial helicopters, down from 61 in the first half of last year, along with three V-22s delivered in the first half of 2026 versus five a year ago. According to Textron, the $58 million revenue increase from second-quarter 2025 reflected higher military revenues of $47 million, plus an $11 million rise in commercial helicopter, parts, and services revenues attributed primarily to pricing. The $5 million decline in segment profit stemmed from program performance and the mix of military programs, partially offset by lower research and development costs. Bell's backlog closed the quarter at $7.5 billion, up from $6.9 billion a year earlier. MV-75 funding. The Army is seeking the additional $350 million in government fiscal year 2026 funds for the MV-75 through an above-threshold reprogramming (ATR) request, which lets the service realign money already within its own budget, subject to congressional sign-off. Textron expects the process to conclude during the third quarter. "Absent these funds, Textron has made the determination to move forward on a self-funded basis to support the program through the remainder of the government's fiscal year," Atherton said during Tuesday's earnings call. "We believe that it is in the best long-term interest and underscores our firm commitment to the U.S. Army and the MV-75 program to continue working during this period." Atherton cautioned that the timeline could slip. "Based on the congressional calendar, it's my expectation this could stretch out until September before Congress gets to the point where they actually sign off on the realignment of those funds," she said. Bell has placed modest spending caps on suppliers to hold the effort within the $350 million figure without losing supply-chain momentum. Asked about the MV-75 funding situation and its financial implications, Atherton said Bell "actually performed very well in the quarter with revenue up 6%. It did impact their profitability because of the way we addressed this potential ATR. Going forward, we took a very conservative booking rate as we have not yet received that ATR. With that program adjustment, if we had not had that adjustment, Bell's margins would have been very comfortably inside their guidance range for the quarter." On this topic, CFO David Rosenberg said, "It's not a change in learning curve. It's a conservative approach to the booking rate because the ATR hasn't been awarded yet," he said. "That was a Q2 impact; we'll see how it plays out in Q3." On the separate low-rate initial production award, Rosenberg said Textron's outlook is unchanged, with the option expected to be exercised in the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of next year, and an associated adjustment of $60 million to $110 million. Bell completed the first two MV-75 wing structures during the quarter. "Building on decades of experience with the V-22, the first wing was fabricated with 90% fewer labor hours compared to the initial V-22 wing build," Atherton said. "The second wing build was produced with an additional 40% reduction on that, highlighting the team's focus on affordability and production readiness." Also in the military portfolio, Bell's V-22 nacelle improvement program has cut maintenance hours by 75%, according to Atherton, improving readiness across the installed fleet. On the commercial side, Bell recently rolled out its 700th Model 505 and booked an order for three additional 407s from Life Flight Network, which operates 35 Bell aircraft. Capital investments at Bell's Drive System Center and Rotors facility began during the quarter, and an AI-enabled shop floor scheduling tool developed at the company's Manufacturing Technology Center has completed testing and started rolling out across Bell's fabrication centers.