Third spn Aircraft To Enter Test Fleet Soon

Grob Aerospace announced this week at NBAA 2007 it has received over 70 orders for its spn light business jet. Recent orders have come primarily from corporate customers across Europe and the USA, adding to earlier announced orders for the spn across four continents, including a couple of strategically key commitments out of operators in the Middle East.

“As the company continues to add more sales resource and support infrastructure globally to the spn program” says CEO Niall Olver, “interest in the aircraft continues to build.”

Although Olver won’t be drawn on identifying specific customers, he was happy to concede that, “it shouldn’t be long before Grob Aerospace will be in a position to start announcing orders from these exciting new business aviation markets... because the market has responded so very well to the spn, we are actually exceeding our sales targets," he added.

Grob Aerospace returns to NBAA this year to showcase a new look cabin that will be standard aboard its new all-composite spn light jet. The new interior, exclusively designed by Porsche Design Studio, can be seen in the full size cabin mockup on show at Booth 7365.

“Our mission was to create an environment that reflected calm, elegance, comfort and functionality” said Roland Helier, Managing Director of Porsche Design Studio. “The feedback Grob Aerospace received on the new look cabin mock-up at EBACE in Geneva as well as in Oshkosh, WI, its first showing in the USA, is very encouraging.

“Grob Aerospace engineers and the Porsche Design Studio team have worked extremely hard to capture just what we wanted to achieve with this interior,” said Olver. “The design language of Porsche Design Studio combined with the technological leadership of Honeywell delivers the ultimate cockpit experience -- a detail owner pilots are very enthusiastic about."

In development news, test aircraft #3 is now fully assembled with all systems installed, an intensive period of comprehensive ground testing of systems such as fuel, engines, hydraulics, landing gear and avionics is now underway. This will be followed month end by taxiing tests and, quickly thereafter, first flight.

Test #3 will also fly most of the systems that will be installed in the fully conforming series production aircraft. With the airframe fatigue test in preparation a major milestone for the certification process of the spn is imminent.

Fatigue testing will be undertaken in-house and is scheduled to start in Q4 2007. Testing will simulate 84,000 flight hours and 51,000 landings and pressurization cycles to a minimum of 28,000 hours’ and 17’000 landings.

With the goal of further simplifying maintainability, Grob Aerospace has relocated certain systems into the wing fairing of the all-composite aircraft, including the oxygen system, single point pressure fuelling and some electrical power distribution. This equipment will be easily accessible through large access panels; designs motivated by the positive reaction from future maintainers and owners to the large panels already allowing easy access to spn avionics and hydraulics systems in the forward nose compartment.

Three more spn jets will support the flight test program following the introduction of the third prototype. Olver disclosed that production of the fourth test aircraft was already well under way and is scheduled to join the flight test program in Q4 2007.

The spn boasts an impressive range and payload for an aircraft in its class. With six passengers and one pilot, the aircraft can fly non-stop 1,800 nm. The aircraft features a total cabin volume of 405 cu.ft -- by far the largest among light business jet, as well as a large passenger door.

Unique in its class, the spn is designed to operate on unimproved runways (gravel or grass), traditionally the domain of a turboprop, requiring a balanced field length of just 3,000 ft at maximum take off weight. The spn will also be certified for single pilot operation, and is equipped with a Honeywell avionics suite more advanced than that of any other aircraft in its class.

Two rear-mounted FADEC controlled Williams FJ44-3A engines deliver 2,800 lbs of thrust.

FMI: www.grob-aerospace.net