Cessna Sets New Industry Standard for Aircraft Seat Design Testing; Process Reduces Costs and Customer Waiting Time.

Business/Technology Editors

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2002

In another demonstration of its market leadership, Cessna Aircraft, a Textron Company, has designed an innovative new process for aircraft seat design testing that shortens product testing time from months to weeks and cuts engineering costs in half. The process combines computer simulation technology and analysis with a strict testing methodology to assess structural damage to seats and to predict occupant injury potential and structural damage. Using the process reduces, or in some cases eliminates, the need for expensive full-scale crash tests, resulting in labor, time and cost savings, as well as reduced waiting time for customers who wish to refurbish or redesign their seating configurations.

"With this new approach to seat design testing, we are able to bring new products, product upgrades and customer retrofits to market in a fraction of the time it used to take using previous methods," said Cindy Halsey, vice president of interior design, engineering development at Cessna.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved this process for certification of seat designs and configurations in Cessna aircraft. The FAA is now working to extend the benefits to other manufacturers by drafting procedures to implement the process industry-wide.

The process includes certification methodologies which were created and validated over a three-year period with partial funding provided by the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) Consortium. AGATE is a cost sharing industry-university-government alliance initiated by NASA to develop affordable new technologies, industry standards and certification methods for the U.S. general aviation industry.

The process and its creators, Cessna engineers Terence Lim and Paul Yaklin, were recently recognized by Textron with the annual Textron Chairman's Award for Innovation. The Award recognizes innovations and innovators who have created breakthrough applications, products, technologies or processes. The nominations submitted for this year's Award have already accounted for $65 million in sales and $9.7 million in cost savings. Over the next five years they are expected to generate $1 billion in total sales, $187 million in profits and $133 million in savings.

Cessna Aircraft Company is the world's largest manufacturer of light and mid-size business jets, utility turboprops and single-engine piston aircraft. Cessna is a business unit of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), a $12 billion multi-industry company with more than 51,000 employees in 40 countries. The company leverages its global network of businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services in industries such as aircraft, fastening systems, industrial products and components and finance. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO and Greenlee, among others. More information is available at www.textron.com.