Germany-based Deutsche Aircraft has completed the first phase of flight testing of a new landing gear system for its D328eco regional aircraft, using a legacy D328 as a dedicated flying testbed.
The testbed has flown its first five development flights, meeting all planned test objectives, after completing low-speed and high-speed taxi testing. Since flight testing began on August 5, the aircraft has logged more than 15 hours of test time across flight and ground activities.
Aaron Tsang, head of design organization and vice president of engineering at Deutsche Aircraft said, “Using a legacy D328 as a dedicated flying testbed has enabled us to efficiently validate the landing gear system across the full operational envelope, from structural ground testing to taxi operations and flight testing. The results provide valuable data while demonstrating the effectiveness of our development and certification approach for the D328eco programme.”
Deutsche Aircraft has moved to a new landing gear supplier and secured full intellectual property rights, bringing the architecture under its own engineering authority and enabling the firm to improve parts availability and supply-chain resilience, and harmonize the gear across the D328 and D328eco.
According to the company, landing gear is a source of difficulty in regional aviation, where reliance on third-party suppliers and limited access to design data can cause spare-parts shortages and complex lifecycle management.
Nico Neumann, CEO of Deutsche Aircraft, said, “The successful completion of the ground and taxi test campaign, together with the first flights of our landing gear testbed, is an important achievement.
“The results provide strong validation of the landing gear system and enable us to move into the next phase of flight testing as we continue the certification process. Bringing this critical system under our direct control allows us to deliver greater reliability, resilience and long-term support for our operators.”
The certification campaign is continuing with the same D328 testbed. Upcoming test campaigns include braking and stopping-distance validation, steering and ground-handling evaluations, crosswind testing and unpaved-runway testing, along with high-load structural testing and durability and reliability assessments.
