JACKSON FLORES / RIO DE JANEIRO
Agreement will establish a joint venture to licence-manufacture the AMT-600
Brazil's Aeromot Group is hammering out a final agreement with the Guizhou Aviation Industry of China (GAIC) to establish a joint venture to licence-manufacture the Aeromot AMT-600 Guri ab initio trainer. Brazilian sources say that the Aeromot/GAIC agreement will include joint development and production of a four-seat piston-engined general aviation aircraft.
Under the terms of the multi-phase deal, minority shareholder Aeromot will provide jigs and tooling for the production line, and supply technical assistance and personnel training.
The Chinese authorities have been evaluating licence-production of the AMT-600, derived from the Aeromot AMT-200S Super Ximango motor glider, since August last year, as part of a strategy to resurrect the country's general aviation industry.
The first 115hp (85kW) Lycoming O-235-powered AMT-600s entered service this year with Brazilian operators, and according to Aeromot chief executive Cláudio Barreto Viana, preliminary plans call for the production of 200 AMT-600s in China. Unlike their Brazilian-built stablemates, Chinese-built Guris are expected to be built with retractable landing gear to comply with local civil aviation training requirements.
Despite Chinese enthusiasm for the Sino-Brazilian joint venture, signing of the agreement has been delayed due to the restrictive certification regulations of China's civil aviation authority, the CAAC, which Viana says will only recognise US FAR Part 23 certification standards. Aeromot says the Guri, which has received Brazilian approval, will also be certificated to this US standard.
Manufacture of the Super Ximango, which was originally planned to run concurrently with the AMT-600, has also been delayed due to the absence of Chinese certification regulations governing motor gliders. Viana is confident, however, that the CAAC will adopt certification rules for motor gliders that adhere to European JAR 22 standards, the standard to which the Ximango has been approved.
Source: Flight International
