The first Found Aircraft Expedition E350 to be sold into Australia is due here in September. The rugged five-seat back-country aircraft has been delivered to Kansas where it will be containerised for the journey to Australia, and delivered to a Queensland pastoral company.
According to local sales agent Bryce Ducker, it was only a matter of time before the Candian-built STOL aircraft found its way to our shores.
“This confirms our original assessment that the E350 would find its major market in Australia as a property aircraft," he said. “However, it also has obvious applications as a touring and survey machine, and of course as a floatplane”.
Powered by a 315 HP Lycoming IO-580, the high-wing E350 has been described as a "no-nonsense aircraft" built in Canada to cope with the harsh and unforgiving conditions. The E350 cruises at 158 knots, has a useful load of 690 kg.
Of note also is the one piece cantilever wing with continuous mainspar and the carbon fibre-clad welded steel spaceframe surrounding the four-door cabin. The rest of the fuselage is conventional aluminium construction.