Range 2,741 km Cruise speed 750 km/h Wingspan 21 m | Top speed 750 km/h Length 21 m | |
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Engine type Pratt & Whitney Canada PW300 Unit cost 15,000,000–15,000,000 USD (2013), 11,900,000–12,900,000 USD (2002) | ||
Fairchild dornier 328jet interior private plane aircraft charter flight service
The Fairchild-Dornier 328JET is a commuter airliner based upon the turboprop-powered Dornier 328. A proposed stretched variant was the 428JET.
Contents
- Fairchild dornier 328jet interior private plane aircraft charter flight service
- Design and development
- Variants
- Operators
- Accidents and incidents
- Specifications Dornier 328 300JET
- References
The 328 was designed and placed into initial production by the German aerospace firm Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, but in 1996 that firm was acquired by the United States aerospace company Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting corporation, named Fairchild Dornier, continued the production of the 328 family in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, conducted sales from San Antonio, Texas, and supported the product line from both locations.
Design and development
Due to public perception of noise and reliability issues with turboprops, Fairchild-Dornier developed the turbofan-based 328-300 or 328JET, of which 83 were sold. The 328JET prototype rolled out on 6 December 1997 at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, and made its first flight there on 20 January 1998. The 328JET utilized the same cabin arrangement as the 328. Fairchild-Dornier also began development of the stretched 428JET, a 44-seat version of the 328JET.
The declining commercial success of the 328JET meant that Fairchild-Dornier was unable to finance the development of further models. The 328JET was therefore the last commercial aircraft to be produced by the former Dornier business before it became insolvent in 2002. Following Dornier's insolvency, AvCraft Aviation of Virginia acquired the rights to the 328 program in March 2003, including the 32-seat 328JET and 328 turboprop, 18 328JETs in various stages of assembly, and the development work on the 428JET. After the successful sale of these airplanes, AvCraft negotiated arrangements with suppliers to resume production. The first newly built 328JET was delivered in 2004. AvCraft also took on the production of these aircraft, due to low profit expectations for its other projects, until it filed for bankruptcy itself in 2005. The resulting firm was acquired by private equity investors and reformed as M7 Aerospace.
328 Support Services GmbH has held the type certificate for the 328JET since June 2006. 328 Support Services GmbH did not resume manufacturing, but concentrated in providing maintenance, repair and overhaul services to the in-service fleet of around 330 examples of both the jet and turboprop versions the aircraft.
In February 2015, 328 Support Services GmbH was acquired by an engineering company Sierra Nevada Corporation based at Nevada, USA Owner of the company Turkish-American Engineer Fatih Ozmen established a private corporation named Özjet Havacılık Teknolojileri A.Ş. at Technopark of Bilkent University, Ankara and signed a Memorandum of understanding with the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs & Communications in order to manufacture this aircraft at Ankara. In June 2015, Turkish government announced the launch of the Turkish regional aircraft project to build a modernized version of Dornier 328/Fairchild Dornier 328JET as TRJ-328 with the possibility of a turboprop or jet engine. The TRJ-328 will be a technology base for a larger TRJ-628 which is intended to be designed, developed and built entirely by Turkish engineers. TAI is in charge of the production with Turkish companies ASELSAN, TEI, HAVELSAN, Turkish Technic, Alp Aviation and Kale Aviation.
Variants
Operators
In August 2010 a total of 54 Dornier 328JET aircraft remain in airline service. The only operators with a fleet of more than five are Ultimate Air Shuttle with 8, Tianjin Airlines with 11 and Sun Air of Scandinavia with 15. Some 13 other airlines also operate smaller numbers of the type, including Avex Air of South Africa, which operates 2 Dornier 328JETs out of Oliver Tambo International Airport, and Key Lime Air, which operates 7 328JET aircraft - three for private charter, and 4 flying daily scheduled routes as the Denver Air Connection between Denver International and Sheridan, Wyoming and Riverton,Wyoming. Past airline operators in the U.S. include Skyway Airlines, a feeder airline for Midwest Airlines, which flew 12 328JET aircraft and []] (four 328Jet). Skyway and Midwest, as well as Great Plains are no longer in existence. Atlantic Coast Airlines operated over 30 328JET aircraft as part of its Delta Connection service from 2000 until 2005 when Delta Air Lines and Atlantic Coast terminated their agreement with the arrival of Airbus A319s into the rebranded Independence Air fleet.
A small Iranian operator named Sepehran Airlines also operates some Fairchild Dornier 328JETs
Accidents and incidents
Specifications (Dornier 328-300JET)
Data from
General characteristics
Performance