By Chad Trautvetter

Aviation International News >> April 2008
Aircraft

Merritt Island, Fla.-based Comp Air took the wraps off two new aircraft–the CA-9 and CA-11–yesterday at the Sun ’n’ Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Fla., bringing its planned turboprop-single line to three models. The two new airplanes and the larger CA-12 are all composite and powered by the Honeywell TPE331. The $1.6 million CA-9–a six-place, high-wing airplane with fixed gear–is expected to cruise at 250 knots and have a range of 2,200 nm. While sharing the same six-place fuselage, the CA-11 will be a speedy (360 knot), low-wing turboprop single that will sell for $2.5 million. A CA-9 prototype is currently under construction and is scheduled to fly in June; a CA-11 prototype is expected to fly by year-end. FAA certification of the two new models is estimated in 2013, according to Comp Air CEO Ron Lueck. Meanwhile, the TPE331-14GR-powered CA-12 prototype, which has been flying for about a year, is now being outfitted with a pressurization system. Comp Air said the nine-seat, $2.5 million, 310-knot CA-12 is slated for FAA certification in the first half of 2010, with deliveries to start in the middle of that year.