Milestone Event For India’s First Public-Private
Partnership In Aircraft Development
The first flight of a new airplane is always and exciting event.
Wednesday marked the inaugural takeoff for the C-NM5 aircraft,
jointly developed by India's CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories
and Mahindra Aerospace. The program is India's first public-private
partnership in the development of aircraft, and this milestone
event is the result of teamwork across three development teams
– CSIR-NAL, Mahindra Aerospace and GippsAero, a Mahindra
Aerospace subsidiary in Australia.
Engineers from CSIR-NAL and Mahindra Aerospace spent close to
three years designing the aircraft. The prototype was built over a
10 month period by the rapid prototyping team at GippsAero in their
facilities near Melbourne, Australia, where the flight testing is
also taking place. The 45-minute first flight on the 1st of
September tested basic handling of the aircraft. Subsequent flights
have evaluated aircraft stability and control in different flight
regimes. Developmental flight testing and evaluations are
continuing, with the ultimate objective of achieving Type
Certification in keeping with international regulatory standards,
followed by a global sales and marketing program.
The C-NM5 is a 5-seat all-metal aircraft powered by a Lycoming
IO-540 engine, and features fixed landing gear and a spacious cabin
with large access doors. The cabin interior is reconfigurable to
adapt the aircraft to different roles, while simplicity of systems
and ease of maintenance are design drivers throughout the aircraft.
The C-NM5 thus complements Mahindra Aerospace's growing family of
light utility aircraft that are designed to meet the latest global
standards, while operating in environments with limited
infrastructure at extremely low costs per seat mile.
“It is our privilege to announce an important milestone in
the NM5 program with the first flight of the prototype in Australia
which was undertaken by Mahindra. This is not only a pioneering
public-private partnership for India, but also symbolizes the
globalized nature of the technological knowledge pool from which we
can all draw from and contribute to, leading to execution
excellence. Together with the private sector, such initiatives
will provide the impetus for the development of a world class
indigenous aerospace industry in India," said Prof. Samir
Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR, and Secretary, Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and
Technology, Government of India.
“It gives us great pride to see our first indigenous
effort, the C-NM5, developed along with the CSIR-National Aerospace
Laboratories, complete its maiden flight. A partnership that will
enable India to Rise – to the skies! This project is part of
Mahindra’s goal to provide transportation and connectivity
solutions to communities everywhere. My congratulations to our
teams in India and Australia for successfully executing
India’s first public-private partnership in aircraft
development,” said Mr. Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and
Managing Director, Mahindra Group.
“We are very pleased that Mahindra have invested in
GippsAero and had the confidence to trust us with building the
prototype of this milestone aircraft and undertaking successful
first flights. We are confident that following completion of the
development program, the C-NM5 will receive international
certification as with other GA aircraft. The achievement today also
reinforces our belief in our ability to deliver our upcoming
development programs for new models in the Airvan family of
aircraft,” said Mr George Morgan, Director of Technology at
GippsAero Pty Ltd.