Aermacchi M-345 completes first flight
Leonardo Aermacchi's M-345 High Efficiency Trainer (HET) prototype aircraft successfully completed its first flight from Venegono Superiore airfield in Varese, Italy, on December 29.
The M-345 is being developed for military pilot training. The aircraft test campaign will be completed in 2017, with the next phase of testing set to check avionics systems, engines and flight envelope expansion, including altitude, speed and manoeuvrability.
Quirino Bucci, project test pilot trainers, Leonardo Aircraft Division, said of the flight: ‘The aircraft conducted itself perfectly, meeting the expectations of the design parameters while showing excellent performance.
‘The engine in particular demonstrated a great capacity to react to regime changes, which is a fundamental characteristic for a basic training aircraft.’
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