Why would Cessna buy Beech?

AlphaWhiskey

AlphaWhiskey

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AlphaWhiskey
Cessna did not buy Beech; Textron, Cessna's parent company bought Beechcraft, likely with the Special Missions Aircraft program as the jewel. There is also the T-6 program that makes money. The King Air also fills a gap in Cessna's offerings, not to mention there are some jet Type Certificates they own which aren't bad. The G36 and G58 offerings also fill in the lineup with a 6 seat HP retract and a light twin.

With this, as well as Textron's other holdings like Bell Helicopter, Lycoming, EZ Go golf carts/utility vehicles, and an Automotive component company, they have placed themselves in a prime position for Chinese acquisition.
 
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Why would Cessna buy Beech?

To bring this back

NC-06%20Lg.jpg


Hey, we can dream, can't we?
 
Yes, I should have written Textron. Still, though, they would only get the jets I thought which might put some holes in the SMA theory.
Love the Starship revival idea too but it's about as likely as my ability to afford one.
Might be some interesting times ahead!
 
Goofy said:
What a wonderful dream! :yes:
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Wonderful in what way? It was so successful the manufacturer bought them all back to scrap them. There might have been one that escaped, I'm sure it's fun supporting it.
 
JHW said:
Wonderful in what way? It was so successful the manufacturer bought them all back to scrap them. There might have been one that escaped, I'm sure it's fun supporting it.
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"Hey Luigi! Have I got a deal for you! I have a friend that has an elephant for sale!"

"What?? an elephant???" "Are you crazy? You know what it cost to feed one? And what about the upkeep??? "Are you crazy??"

"But Luigi, I haven't told you the best part! It's a pair of elephants for the cost of just one!"

"Ahhhhh, now you're talkin' bargain!"
 
JHW said:
There might have been one that escaped, I'm sure it's fun supporting it.
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If I'm not mistaken, there are at least two...both owned by the same guy apparently and still flying. I saw one parked overnight a couple of rows away from my 170 not too long ago at MYF.
 
Fearless Tower said:
If I'm not mistaken, there are at least two...both owned by the same guy apparently and still flying. I saw one parked overnight a couple of rows away from my 170 not too long ago at MYF.
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Here's one of them I saw last year at a Scaled Composite fly in. It too flew in from somewhere. I forget who it belongs to.
 

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No, there's at least 5 still flying. And one of the guys is sitting on a mountain of spares, so they're not going away anytime soon. In fact, Beech should bring it back at its original certified weight, and it would have a contender.
 
Burt and John told beech not to make ANY changes to the design they submitted.

Beech, like all companies run by ladder climbing back stabbers totally ignored the advice of the two brightest aero designers in aviation. Advice from men who were doing what the company drones could not - run their own businesses that they started from scratch.
So the beech executives had their engineers "improve" the design. And thus one of the most interesting business aircraft to come along became the Starship dog.
 
Dr. O said:
Burt and John told beech not to make ANY changes to the design they submitted.

Beech, like all companies run by ladder climbing back stabbers totally ignored the advice of the two brightest aero designers in aviation. Advice from men who were doing what the company drones could not - run their own businesses that they started from scratch.
So the beech executives had their engineers "improve" the design. And thus one of the most interesting business aircraft to come along became the Starship dog.
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Speaking from memory...which is dangerous...I thought the real reason for its failure was how heavy it became because the FAA required a lot of unnecessary additional strength as they'd never dealt with a composite of that magnitude before and they were covering their butts big time. I think this is what Stratobee was referencing when he said:

stratobee said:
In fact, Beech should bring it back at its original certified weight, and it would have a contender.
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The weight had a lot to do with it. I think it also had some pretty complex systems on board which made it expensive to maintain. Friggin gorgeous airplane for sure.

I have a friend (hard to believe I know) that flew demo flights in the King Air 350 I think. He flew to China, Egypt and all over the world. the Turbo prop line was actually doing ok, it was the Hawker line that was dragging the company down according to him.

Lets hope they salvage some remnant of the company.
 
timwinters said:
Why would Cessna buy Beech?

To bring this back

NC-06%20Lg.jpg


Hey, we can dream, can't we?
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Yeah, I'm sure Textron would benefit greatly from bringing an expensive, overweight, and underperforming yet beautiful airplane back on the market. Heck, it's plausible that if Beech hadn't dumped all their money into the Starship program they would be buying Cessna today.

And I'm not saying I wouldn't want one if they were for sale and I could afford it.:D
 
gismo said:
Yeah, I'm sure Textron would benefit greatly from bringing an expensive, overweight, and underperforming yet beautiful airplane back on the market.
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I thought that expensive, overweight, and underperforming were the primary traits of Textron products? :D
 
gismo said:
Heck, it's plausible that if Beech hadn't dumped all their money into the Starship program they would be buying Cessna today.
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Beech spent ~300 mil on the Starship developing the composite technology. They landed ~700 mil in gov't. contracts for that technology.

Noah W
 
I think Beech just got a deal with Wheels Up for 104 King Airs. That would sweeten the pot.
 
Cessna has ninety-nine problems, but a Beech ain't one.
 
JHW said:
Wonderful in what way? It was so successful the manufacturer bought them all back to scrap them. There might have been one that escaped, I'm sure it's fun supporting it.
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There are a couple still in the wild. I think the rest of them are at Marana, awaiting destruction (unless they already got spiked).

The problem wasn't the aircraft, it was administrative. The whole story is online somewhere, fascinating reading.
 
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