The holidays came early for Mooney International after the company successfully completed the first flight of the new M10T proof of concept in California on December 23.
The first flight was performed by test pilot Len Fox from Chino Airport near Los Angeles. It lasted approximately 15 minutes, with Fox conducting basic flight maneuvers and verifying design data. At the end of the flight, he was greeted by pleased engineers from the M10 team.
“The flight was a tremendous milestone for the M10 program,” said Jerry Chen, CEO of Mooney International. “Our team of engineers have been working very hard to reach this day, and we are excited to have achieved this milestone in 2015, just one year after announcing the M10 program at Zhuhai Airshow in China.”
The M10T, announced in 2014, is a carbon-fiber three-seat fixed-gear aircraft. Powered by the Continental Technify CD-135 diesel engine, it is a new generation aircraft designed by Mooney specifically for flight training.
The M10T will continue flight testing as the program progresses toward certification in the next few years, Chen said.
