What would you do, let it go bankrupt?  Hawker Beechcraft cannot continue to live on as they are, as that has driven them to bankruptcy.

And perhaps you should consider an American company over Cirrus, Cirrus is Chinese owned as well.  What's wrong with Cessna?

I wouldn't let it go bankrupt..but there would have to be another way. And there is NOTHING wrong with Cessna. I love Cessna as much as I do Beechcraft. There's just no way around it anymore...so many companies need help, I just hate seeing it all go to another country, we are in debt too much to China anyway, I guess the bright side is at least they aren't just going out.

On the topic of Cessna, I love their planes, I want to train in a 162...if I can find any in my area.

This is going to save thousands of US jobs though. Funnily enough, I live fairly close to one of their UK plants - It's responsible for European sales and European maintenance.


It's unfortunate that they are going bankrupt, but you can either lose them entirely, or lose just a bit of them. They'll no doubt remain just as "American". After all, the Chinese want that quality (as that's why they're buying it). They'll just be the ones with the money.

machineman9 wrote on Jul 10^th, 2012 at 10:32pm:


Big problem with that is the Chinese are notorious for copying people. So my fear at least is that they will copy all the Hawker Beechcraft stuff then burn the company. It is no secret the Chinese are pulling out all the stops trying to build up their buiz and private aviation markets. Im still expecting them to copy and burn Cirrus.

That said, it is also a sign of the times. For myself there is an element of pride. So yes it is good the plants are staying open, but it is still a slap in the face. Our economy has seen a tremendous amount of outsourcing already. My state, Michigan, got hit extremely hard by this due to the auto companies moving production lines else where. I personally know a lot of people that lost their jobs because of Chinese, Mexican, or Indian involvement in the company. So we really do not react well to a foreign country buying another one of our companies.
You have to remember in the States being American through and through and being made in America is a big deal for a manufacturer.

Mictheslik wrote on Jul 11^th, 2012 at 7:52am:

I can understand that too. The British aircraft industry used to be supreme, then financial hard times knocked it down...which is now going to happen to the American aviation industry.

wahubna wrote on Jul 11^th, 2012 at 5:06am:


The only real danger in the Chinese copying technology from Hawker is the composite technology they have on the 4000 and Premier.  Beyond that you have 40 year old designs.  Besides, it's a partnership.  Could the company that bought Hawker Beech one day abandon the current business and start their own?  Maybe, but I don't know if legally that's possible, nor do I necessarily think that would be in their best business interests.

While being American and American made is important to some American customers, the fact is we are entering an era of a truly global economy.  Look at the Cessna partnership with AVIC, a large portion of the partnership is building Sovereigns in China for the Chinese market, which will be a huge market in the near future.  So American made has it's place, but so does Chinese made and when the Chinese market demands it, the manufacturers have to capitalize on the opportunity.