Andrzej Jeziorski/TAIPEI
Taiwan's Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST)has redesigned the five-year-old ARL-1 twin turboprop aircraft concept as a 19-seat utility after seeing the results of market research.
The ARL-1 began life as a six- to nine-seat concept designed by the Aeronautical Research Laboratory of the former Aero Industry Development Centre, now the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC). Following AIDC's separation from CSIST, the project is now being run by CSIST's Aeronautical Systems Research Division (ASRD).
Henry Chen, deputy director of the ASRD's aircraft subsystems department, says market research carried out last year "found that only a 19-seater is worth building", and led to the redesign.
"If we build a six-seater, we have a lot of competition [from other manufacturers]. If we launch a 19-seater, we will be alone in the market for the next five years," says Chen.
There is no target launch date for the programme, and ASRD says it is in talks with other manufacturers to establish an international partnership.
The ASRD has funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs up to the end of next year. Chen says that the programme is being backed by the Taipei Government as part of its efforts to promote the growth of Taiwan's indigenous aerospace industry. "We need to find a suitable foreign company which will co-operate with us," says Chen. The ASRD is in talks with "three or four" general aviation companies, which he declines to name.
The government-run design bureau says it has already completed wind-tunnel tests of the new, larger aircraft at its Taichung laboratory, having carried out similar tests of the original design.
Chen says, however, that the ASRD is also considering turning the aircraft into a turbofan, given the increasing popularity of small jet aircraft.
The ASRD plans to use AIDC's manufacturing capacity at Taichung to build the ARL-1 structure if the project takes off. The current design is a 19-seat, all-composite, T-tail twin-turboprop, with enlarged wing roots blending into the fuselage inboard of the engine mountings.
The ASRD says that this wing design will allow the 9,080kg (20,000lb) maximum take-off weight aircraft to take off in 488m (1,600ft) and operate up to 2,220km (1,200nm).
The original design had the tailplane mounted at the base of the fin, and had a maximum take-off weight of 4,767kg.
Chen says that powerplants in the class of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engine will be needed for the aircraft in its current configuration. The multirole ARL-1 will be targeted at the air ambulance and maritime patrol markets.
Source: Flight International
