Nextant Aerospace has conducted a successful maiden flight for the G90XT twin turbo-prop with the new GE engines.
The flight took place from Nextant's headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, in January.
The G90XT is a refurbished and upgraded C90A King Air with GE H75 engines replacing the original Pratt & Whitney PT6s.
“This is a very exciting day for the team at Nextant and our customer base,” said Nextant President and CEO Sean McGeough. “We announced this program just 12 months ago and we are on schedule for certification. We have great expectations for this aircraft and believe the new technology that it offers will be appealing to this market segment.”
Enhancements over the original Beechcraft product include a fully integrated Garmin G1000 cockpit, electronic engine control with complete exceedance protection, single-lever power control for simplified operations and reduced pilot workload, digital pressurization, dual-zone air-conditioning and a significant interior upgrade.
“We spent several months with existing King Air operators during our feasibility studies trying to understand what types of enhancements would significantly improve their ownership experience," McGeough said.
"We listened carefully and believe we are delivering a product that will have a large impact within this market segment. Like our previous aircraft, the 400XTi, we've tried to take a good aircraft and make it a great aircraft!”
Nextant expects the flight test program to last approximately six weeks and anticipates certification for the aircraft in the second quarter of this year.