China's Shenyang Aircraft has selected a greenfield site for construction of an aircraft assembly plant and general aviation airport that will be used for production of Cessna 162 SkyCatcher light sport aircraft.
Shenyang's factory at Huanggu, on the northern outskirts of Shenyang city, has just delivered its first 162 to Cessna and the test flight was at Beiling air base, says Martin Lin, China president for Textron, Cessna's parent. The Huanggu industrial base is next to Chinese miliary airbase Beiling.
The test flight was "a week or two leading up to China's national day parade, so it was not easy getting approval", says Lin, adding that the Shenyang test pilot needed special security clearance.
China's airspace is rigorously controlled by the Chinese military, which tightened it even further in the lead-up to China's 1 October national day celebrations.
Airspace is important to the aircraft-maker because 162s built at Shenyang need a test flight before being exported.
In the immediate term, 162s will continue to have flight testing at Beiling, but next year Shenyang plans to shift production from Huanggu to a site in Fagu county, 60km (35 miles) north of Huanggu, says Lin.
"SAC has already obtained Shenyang government approval to acquire the land," says Lin, who adds that the plan is to have the general aviation airport and aircraft assembly line open in mid-2010.
Next year Shenyang is due to build 350 SkyCatchers for Cessna and production will later increase to 500 a year, Lin says.
Source: Flight International