Aviation Innovation Bolsters Wichita’s Status as ‘Air Capital of the World’
787, air capital of the world, aviation, boeing, dreamliner, industry, innovation, spirit aerosystems,
Clyde Cessna‚ Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman started something here in the 1920s that remains to this day: Wichita’s status as the “Air Capital of the World.”
The aviation industry here comprises five major aircraft manufacturers and numerous ancillary aviation companies‚ and is the area’s largest employer.
Cessna Aircraft Co. alone employs 11‚000 workers here‚ while Hawker Beechcraft Corp. – originally Beech’s company – employs an additional 6‚500 people.
Stearman sold Stearman Aircraft to Boeing‚ but his Wichita legacy continues in the form of Spirit AeroSystems. Sold by Boeing in 2005‚ this Wichita-based company is today the world’s largest independent supplier of large component parts and assemblies for commercial aircraft. Along the way‚ Bombardier Learjet and Airbus North America have come to establish major presences in Wichita as well.
Bombardier delivers 300 jets per year and debuted its newest Learjet model with a state-of-the-art avionics suite in 2007.
Cessna‚ which produces nearly 400 planes per year‚ has its corporate headquarters in Wichita.
Hawker Beechcraft makes everything from the Beechcraft Bonanza‚ a single-engine piston plane now in its 60th year of continuous production‚ to business jets‚ and was the first manufacturer to produce a business aircraft plane out of all composite material‚ according to Mike Turner‚ senior manager of public relations.
“We use composite as a sandwich‚ with graphite epoxy strands wound around layers of a honeycomb Nomex mate rial‚” Turner says. “The real advantage for us is that it is lighter and stronger than aluminum‚ which allows us to build an airplane of a given size with a larger interior cabin.”
Composites also allow fabrication of extremely aerody namic forms that can’t be made of aluminum‚ Turner says.
Composites of a different sort are used by Spirit AeroSystems Inc.‚ which is the largest content supplier for the 787 Dreamliner‚ Boeing’s next-generation twin-aisle aircraft.
The composite design of that plane’s fuselage‚ the first of its type for an airliner‚ consists of layer upon layer of graph ite tape impregnated with fibers of carbon that give it tremendous strength with low weight. The structure is cured in a giant autoclave‚ an oven measuring 70 feet in length and 30 feet in diameter.
“It’s 15-20 percent lighter than aluminum‚ which reduces the amount of fuel burned‚” says David Walker‚ Spirit’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Carbon also eliminates corrosion. Normally‚ the airlines bring in a plane every five to 10 years for a heavy check because aluminum does corrode‚ but with this corrosion-free material they can eliminate a lot of those expensive corrosion checks.”
That explains why Boeing had 650 firm orders for a plane that‚ as of June 2007‚ had not yet flown.
“We think composites are going to be more important in the future as other airplanes evolve and come on line‚” says Debbie Gann‚ senior marketing manager.
In the meantime‚ Spirit continues to build aluminum fuselages and other parts in Wichita for every other Boeing jetliner in production.
The aviation presence in Wichita has also made it the home of support companies like Burnham Composite Structures Inc.‚ which designs and fabricates composite tooling for the aerospace industry. Burnham’s products are utilized in sup port of space‚ defense‚ commercial and general aviation aircraft throughout the country.
Story by Jim Elliott
