Australian composite light aircraft builder Eagle Aircraft plans to treble its production over the next 12 months, following FAA type certification of its aerodynamically-upgraded Eagle 150 sports trainer in the FAR 21.17(b) Special Class Very Light Aircraft (VLA) Category.
Under a new Australia-USA bilateral agreement, the bulk of the certification approval work was carried out by Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
Eagle, which has already sold five aircraft to a US flying school and established a US dealership, will initially increase production from two to six aircraft monthly. Eagle Aircraft chief executive officer Nor Manshor Ghafar says that the Perth, Western Australia assembly plant can build up to 15 a month with its existing production capacity.
The Malaysian-owned company has already shifted 40% of Eagle's component manufacturing to its Malaka plant in Malaysia, and that portion will gradually increase, although assembly will remain in Perth, where the company has now completed a second production line.
According to Ghafar, the company has already conducted preliminary studies of a four-seat all-composite aircraft in both the Eagle 150 and the conventional mid-wing configurations, but it has not yet decided on which configuration will be adopted.
Source: Flight International
