March 24, 2003
PAC 750XL Update
Greetings,
The official word from PAC is that, with the exception of the noise test, the PAC 750XL is FAA compliant.
PAC has targeted March 31st, 2003 as the completion date for New Zealand CAA approval, clearing the way for the planes on the production line to go to work in New
Zealand. Brian Hare, Managing Director of PAC, pointed out the significance of that date:
On March the 31st, 1903, New Zealand farmer Richard Pearce of Temaku flew his piston powered monoplane. Mr. Pearce was, no doubt, working without intimate
knowledge of Wilbur and Orville Wright's pursuit of the same goal. Unfortunately for Mr. Pearce, his flights never achieved the same measure of control as the Wrights'
Flyer, so while he was airborne with a powered aircraft, he never made it into the history books with the same achievement as the Wrights.
www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/Pearse/Pearse.html
So for the NZ aviation community, March 31st, 2003 has an appealing ring to it. It also makes for a good target date.
"FAA compliant" means that the FAA Designated Engineering Representatives (DER's) are satisfied that the XLERATOR meets the FAR requirements. The data will be
submitted to the FAA Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) who will review and approve. The ACO have the discretion to audit items that they feel require closer scrutiny. Once
the ACO is happy, we will all be happy!
The NZ CAA are currently busy with the prototype. After the CAA are finished, the plane will have some cosmetic work completed prior to a visit to the interior shop. Then
it's off to the paint booth. While it's in the paint shop, the ferry tank system will be engineered and constructed.
Once the CAA is happy with the ferry tank system and paperwork, intrepid ferry pilot Kelvin Stark will ferry the XLERATOR to California.
This should be happening sometime in April. We are still hopeful for FAA certification in June or July.
We have added the C-208B useful load envelope to our PAC 750XL comparison chart. The PAC 750XL useful load on this graph is 4372 lbs. Folks with a keen eye will
note that we have the useful load listed at 4428 lbs in the spec sheet. The prototype's empty weight is a little heavier than posted. There will be weight reductions in the
production planes, but we are going with the numbers generated by the prototype, to be conservative. We have been conservative with the 208's also, actually posting their
empty weights 65 lbs lighter than their published Basic Empty Weights. Not many 208's weigh the same as their Basic Empty Weight, due to the installed equipment. So
the 65 lbs reduction represents no optional installed equipment and no seats. This is a best guess to the average. Have a look.
http://www.utilityaircraft.com/dwcomparisons.html
Kind Regards
Philip Esdaile
Utility Aircraft Corporation
PO Box 1235
Woodland, CA 95776
USA
(530) 750-3226
www.utilityaircraft.com
