Aircraft / Dornier 228
Aircraft / Dornier 228
The Dornier 228 is a two-abreast, twin engine turboprop-powered STOL utility airliner that was originally produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Manzell, Friedrichshafen, Germany, and built at Oberpfaffenhofen, Bavaria, Germany from 1981. The firm was acquired in 1996 by Fairchild Aircraft of San Antonio, Texas USA, which then became Fairchild-Dornier. Initial production of the Dornier 228 initially ended in 1998, with 245 units produced.
In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) bought a production license and manufactured an additional 125 aircraft at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. In 2009, the Swiss holding company RUAG started building a Dornier 228 New Generation (also known as the Dornier 228NG) in Germany. The fuselage, wings and tail unit were manufactured by HAL in Kanpur, India, and then transported to Oberpfaffenhofen, where RUAG Aviation carried out the final assembly. The Dornier 228NG uses the same airframe but with improved technologies and performances, such as a new five-blade propeller, glass cockpit and longer range. In 2020, RUAG sold the Dornier 228 program to General Atomics, who continue to sell the 228 as a multirole utility aircraft.
The type also continues to be used in electrical and hybrid aircraft research. The German aerospace research agency Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, has been modifying one of its two Dornier 228 into a demonstrator hybrid electric aircraft. In January 2023, ZeroAvia flew its Dornier 228 testbed for 10 minutes using one TPE331 turboprop replaced by a prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain in the cabin: two fuel cells and a lithium-ion battery for peak power. ZeroAvia is seeking a certifiable configuration of their version of the 228 by 2025.
Reference: Wikipedia.
Stats
Stats displayed are for the the Dornier 228NG production model.
Name: Dornier 228NG
Final Assembly Line: Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Role: Twin Engine Turboprop STOL Utility Airliner
First Introduction: July 1982
Status: In Limited Production; In Active Service
Cockpit Crew: Two
Seating: 19
Engines: 2 × Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop
Cruise Speed: 190 knots (352 km/h; 219 mph)
Range: 715 nmi (1324 km; 823 mi)