Also: Electric E-FAN, An Afternoon Flight, SpaceX Soft Water Landing, Sunseeker Duo First Flight
Approximately 750 workers are being laid off by Textron aviation across the Cessna and Beechcraft divisions, but the announcement was not a surprise. The 60-day notices that went out the middle of last week were reportedly in line with, or lower than, expected job cuts at the Textron subsidiaries. Autorotation trials for the AW609 TiltRotor program have been completed successfully, according to AgustaWestland. Between the end of March and into April, flight testing included more than 70 power-off conversions from airplane mode to helicopter mode. Dubbed "JUMP", the system consist of booms fitted with vertical lift motors and rotors that are mounted to each wing to provide vertical lift for takeoff and landing. Vertical lift motors are shut off for winged flight and propellers are feathered for minimum drag. All this... and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!
Airborne 04.28.14 is chock full of info in this thrice-weekly news period ending Monday, April 28th, 2014... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Host Ashley Hale, and supported by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, and Aero-Journalists Tom Patton, and Earl Downs, this episode covers:
Textron Aviation Initiates Workforce Reduction
AgustaWestland Completes AW609 Autorotation Trials
Arcturus Unveils JUMP Fixed Wing VTOL UAV
Electric E-Fan Aircraft Demonstrates Airborne E-Mobility
AVW: An Afternoon Flight
SpaceX Booster Makes 'Soft Landing' In The Atlantic Ocean
Sunseeker Duo Solar-Powered Airplane Makes First Powered Flights
Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again next week for the next edition of "Airborne" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, in just a few days!
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