Gallery: Beechcraft Denali's First Flight

Molly McMillin November 28, 2021

Flight Testing Begins

Textron Aviation’s Beechcraft Denali took flight for the first time on Nov. 23, marking the start of the single-engine turboprop’s flight test program. Credit: Textron Aviation

A Three-Hour Tour

The Beechcraft Denali prototype aircraft departed Wichita’s Eisenhower International Airport at 8:20 a.m. and flew to a test site over Cheney Lake, west of the city. The flight lasted 2 hr. 50 min. The aircraft was accompanied by a Cessna Citation chase aircraft. Credit: Aviation Week

Performance Testing And More

During the flight, the team tested the aircraft’s performance, stability and control, and its propulsion, environmental, flight controls and avionics systems, Textron Aviation says. The aircraft reached an altitude of 15,600 ft. and attained speeds of 180 kt. Credit: Textron Aviation

GE's Catalyst Engine

The six-passenger aircraft is powered by the new clean-sheet GE Aviation Catalyst 1,300 shp-rated engine. It features a dual-channel FADEC and propeller control and burns up to 20% less fuel than older turboprop engines, the company says. Credit: Textron Aviation

Entry-Into-Service: 2023

Certification of the Beechcraft Denali is planned for 2023.The turboprop is equipped with McCauley’s new 105-in.-dia. composite, five-blade propeller, Garmin 3000 avionics and an integrated Garmin autothrottle. Credit: Textron Aviation

Textron Aviation flew its new single-engine turboprop Beechcraft Denali for the first time on Nov. 23. 

The company announced the aircraft in 2015 and GE announced the Catalyst engine the same year. Flight testing was to have begun in 2018 with certification in 2019, but delays in the engine’s testing program moved back the program’s schedule. 
 

Molly McMillin

Molly McMillin, a 30-year aviation journalist, is managing editor of business aviation for the Aviation Week Network and editor-in-chief of The Weekly of Business Aviation, an Aviation Week market intelligence report.

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