Deutsche Aircraft has started flight testing the landing gear for its D328eco regional turboprop using an older Dornier 328 as a flying testbed.
The campaign began in August and had already reached five development flights and more than 15 hours of ground and flight testing by early September, following low- and high-speed taxi trials.
The testbed approach allows the company to validate the landing gear separately from D328eco prototypes, reducing programme risk while development continues.
Further checks are set to cover braking and stopping distances, steering, crosswind operations and unpaved-runway performance, before later structural, durability and reliability testing.