Prototypes under development in India, Australia; commercial production to begin in 2013.
India’s first civilian aircraft to be developed under a public-private partnership, is all set to take wings with Mahindra Aerospace, the private partner in the programme, planning to test flight the aircraft this calendar year.
The five-seater civilian aircraft, NM-5, jointly developed by Mahindra Aerospace and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is expected to be test-flown in May-June this year.
“We have already finished the design part. Right now, we are building two prototypes and it is simultaneously happening in Australia and India. We will have our first flight by May or June this year,” Arvind Mehra, executive director & CEO of Mahindra Aerospace, told Business Standard.
The five-seater NM-5 is a multi-role and multi-mission aircraft capable of taking off and landing on unpaved runways. Expected to be priced in the range of Rs 1.2-1.5 crore, the aircraft could be used for air taxi, charter operation, ferrying people and cargo services.
The prototypes of the aircraft are under development at NAL and at the facility of Gippsland Aeronautics of Australia, now a part of Mahindra Aerospace. NM-5 will use the same Lycoming family of engines being used by Gippsland for its Airvan family of utility aircraft.
According to Karthik Krishnamurthy, CTO of Mahindra Aerospace, the company aims to get the type certificate from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India which will be followed by a certification from the civil aviation Australian regulator, Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
“Our plan is to get it certified in India first; we are also looking at getting an Australian certification because we have a strong relationship with Australia now. Presently, the plan is that the prototype we are building here (at NAL) will be used for getting a certification in India and the one under development by Gippsland will be used for getting certified in Australia,” said Krishnamurthy.
Mahindra Aerospace is looking to obtain the Type certificate in 12-18 months of the first flight of the aircraft. The commercial production of the aircraft is expected to take another two years. “We are looking at calendar year 2013 for the production launch,” added Krishnamurthy.
