US Air Force Student Pilots Complete Flight Tests of Textron’s Prototype Defense Aircraft; Russ Bartlett Comments

Students from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School have completed a series of flight tests of two prototype aircraft from Textron subsidiaries Textron AirLand and Beechcraft Defense Co. for the school’s Capstone Project.

The student pilots performed 19 flight demonstrations at the company’s test centers in Wichita, Kansas, to assess the Scorpion intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance strike jet from Textron AirLand and the Beechcraft AT-6 multirole aircraft for light attack missions, Textron said Thursday.

“The demonstrations not only allowed us to showcase the capabilities of the aircraft, but it also allowed us to gather feedback, which has already proven beneficial as we continue to prepare these aircraft for entry into the market,” said Russ Bartlett, president of Beechcraft Defense Co.

Following the flight demos involving student pilots, Scorpion’s test pilots maneuvered the aircraft towards South America to perform another 10-day evaluation flight period as per the request of an international air force.