The development team at German airplane manufacturer Flight Design is getting ready for a significant milestone in its four-seat airplane program, named the C4. Flight Design USA’s president Tom Peghiny said the composite airplane is expected to take to the skies for the first time by the end of the month.
Members of a technical team from Flight Design recently gathered at Continental Motors’ headquarters in Mobile, Alabama, for a weeklong session to get educated about the intricacies of the Continental IO-360-AF engine that Flight Design selected to power the C4. Like the airplane itself, the engine is in the process of certification, which Continental expects to have in hand by year-end. While the IO-360-AF will be rated to 210 horsepower, the version that will be installed in the C4 will produce up to 180 horsepower at 2,650 RPM, said Rhett Ross, president of Continental Motors.
