A little more than a year after Glasair first announced its new light-sport Merlin, the airplane made its first flight last week from the company’s facility at the Arlington Municipal Airport in Arlington, Washington. The flight lasted 57 minutes with Glasair test pilot Grant Smith, who evaluated the performance of the Rotax 912 iS engine and flight characteristics of the high-wing two-seater.
The Glasair Aviation team, including the Merlin’s flight design engineer Chuck Hautamaki, all witnessed the first flight. “Seeing the joy and exhilaration on everyone’s faces was as satisfying as hearing the test pilot Grant Smith’s positive comments as he emerged from the cockpit,” said Glasair’s development manager Ted Setzer.
