Sport Expo: Flight Design Reviving The C4

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Now that it’s out of receivership and ramping up production, Flight Design General Aviation is turning its attention to the long-awaited C4 certified four-place aircraft. But as time has marched forward since the airplane was announced eight years ago, so has technology.

In this podcast recorded at the Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Flight Design USA’s Tom Peghiny told AVweb that the C4’s specs will definitely change, although he declined to go into detail. “It’s being worked on right now. The specifications will be different because a lot of things have moved on in the eight years since it was originally designed,” he said. “There’s new certification, new avionics, new engines and new materials that we have access to that are going to make the airplane a little different,” he added. One new possibility is the 135-HP Rotax 915 iS just being rolled out for spring 2018.

Flight Design went into receivership in 2016 after it apparently got into trouble with non-payment from Asian business deals. Last summer it was bought by LiftAir, a German company, and renamed Flight Design General Aviation. LiftAir is a subsidiary of the Lindig Group, which also owns Rotorvox, a gyrocopter company. Although the Ukrainian factory where the Flight Design Aircraft were made never shut down, Peghiny said it’s now ramping up production to build as many as six airplanes a month later in 2018.

Peghiny’s U.S.-based Flight Design USA remained in business throughout the German-based company’s insolvency, providing parts, service and support for more than 400 Flight Design aircraft in the U.S.

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