Tuesday, April 28, 2026

How Did I Miss This?

Answer: On 4/15/2026, I was rushing around getting my 2025 Form 706 filed. 

If yesterday's local news was correct, Bell (a Textron company) will be building this aircraft right here in Wichita KS. I haven't yet pinned down the physical location, but Textron has much acreage in Wichita considering only Cessna and Beech plants. Maybe I can get a job?

More info at Military.com, DefenseDaily.com (from which the excerpt below is taken), and Wikipedia.

Army Names FLRAA As Cheyenne II; Plans First Unit With 24 Aircraft In FY ‘30 While Noting Timeline ‘Variables’
The Army on April 15, 2026 announced that its next-generation multi-role vertical lift aircraft, the MV-75 Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, will carry the Native American name ll“Cheyenne II” (Photo courtesy of Bell)
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5 comments:

  1. Ingineer66April 30, 2026 at 5:25 PM

    Last week I saw that a new VTOL aircraft was coming to the military. I would bet they would love to have some one with your qualifications and experience come to work for them. Maybe you could get some sort of part time emeritus position with a cool parking space.

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  2. Cop CarApril 30, 2026 at 8:28 PM

    Thanks for the chuckle, Ingineer: 1) they'd probably let me sweep the factory floor, 2) the parking space wouldn't be as good as what I had when I retired - about 50 feet from the door, and 3) probably no corner office. Of course, my corner office was on the second floor of the factory building - no windows. I threatened to install a port hole so that I could see the pond across the access road, to watch the ducks and geese. I figured that some of the mechanics could handle installing a rejected window from a pressurized airframe as my port hole, through the corrugated steel exterior wall.

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  3. Ingineer66May 2, 2026 at 11:21 AM

    I love the port hole idea. For a couple of years, early in my career I had a cubicle in the basement of the district office building. I looked for any excuse to go out to a project or at least visit an office above ground.

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    Replies
    1. Cop CarMay 2, 2026 at 10:00 PM

      I understand what you did, Ingineeer. Have all of your houses had a lot of windows to make up for windowless workspaces?

      I did not at all care for Florida, but at least my office windows looked out on white sand and cattle egrets. Most of my life was spent in windowless buildings, with a big exception of Nov 1975 - Apr 1981 during which period I worked in a Cessna building with glass walls and the aforementioned BDM office in Florida (Apr 1981 - Jun 1983). For a short period of time in the mid-1980s, I worked in a trailer inside a windowless hangar - in the LA area.

      Delete
    2. Ingineer66May 10, 2026 at 10:44 AM

      Yes, my houses have had lots of windows or skylights and being in Northern California they also have all had outdoor cooking and living spaces.
      To me, Florida seems like one of those places that is nice to visit, but not so nice to actually live there.

      Delete

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