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Flight Design Updates C4 Program

Avionics selected for new four-seat airplane.

Flight Design has selected the panel offerings for its new four-seat airplane, the C4, currently in the development phase in Germany. The company has branded its panel offering the Vision Touch by Garmin. While the C4 is in process of Part 23 certification, the main screens are coming from Garmin’s G3X Touch, designed for the experimental and LSA market.

Flight Design USA’s president Tom Peghiny said the new Part 23 rewrite has a provision for non-TSO-approved equipment to be certified alongside an aircraft platform. While the G3X appears to be the main avionics, it basically serves as a backup for Garmin’s GTN 750 and GNC 255 navcom, mounted in the center console beneath the two G3X screens. The airplane will also have backup instruments, including RC Allen’s solid-state electronic attitude and heading indicators. Using the G3X setup will allow Flight Design to maintain the targeted $250,000 price tag, Peghiny said.

Board member and company director Christian Wenger said he is confident the C4 will take flight this summer. Flight Design has identified a location in Spain as a backup for flight-testing in case the weather in Germany does not cooperate at the time the C4 is ready to fly.

The C4 consists of 60 percent American parts, Peghiny said, and a new 50,000-square-foot facility is being built in Newport, Vermont, just south of Montreal, Canada, where the airframes will be shipped for final assembly. Additionally, a new training facility is being established in Windham, Connecticut. Wenger also said Flight Design is establishing a new 20,000-square-foot headquarter in Kamenz, Germany, a facility that will eventually expand to increase its manufacturing capabilities.

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