11 members of a skeleton crew at the Textron Aviation plant near Wichita, Kansas were injured on Friday, December 27, when a three-inch line carrying liquid nitrogen ruptured, also damaging a storage tank, resulting in nitrogen venting out of the building.
County and company officials have advised that the incident may have set back the introduction of a new aircraft under development. The explosion occurred in Plant 3, which is the site for composite manufacturing and experimental aircraft fabrication, including the SkyCourier, a utility turboprop under development, which is scheduled due to enter into service in 2020.
According to Stephanie Harder, as Textron spokesperson, it was too early to determine what damage the prototype aircraft under production may have suffered. Textron Aviation, a unit of Textron Inc, makes Beechcraft and Cessna aircraft.
