Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development (AIDC) and Czech partner Aero Vodochody will begin assembling the first prototype Ae 270 single turboprop utility aircraft by the middle of the year in readiness for a maiden flight in 1999.
According to AIDC business manager Paul Yang, the Taichung-based manufacturer has already begun work on the aircraft's 13.8m-span wing. Final assembly of the first Ae 270 flight test aircraft is due to begin around June. The first flight will follow about a year later, halfway through 1999.
AIDC will also have responsibility for the nine-12-seat aircraft's landing gear. Joint venture partner Aero Vodochody, meanwhile, will manufacture the fuselage and empennage, as well as undertake final assembly.
The plan is to produce three flight test prototypes and two static fatigue and load test airframes.
Yang says that the two companies plan to complete flight testing and certification by 2001. Initial airworthiness certification will come from the Czech authority, with US Federal Aviation Administration approval expected to follow six months later.
Two versions are planned. The Ae 270P will be powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42 and have a pressurised cabin and retractable gear. A cheaper, more austere Ae 270W version will be powered by a Walter M601F.
State-run AIDC is hoping that its investment in the $40 million Ae 270 programme will partially offset loss of work following the completion of the final Indigenous Defence Fighter in 1999.
Source: Flight International
