Turkish Aerospace Industries Trainer Aircraft On Track for Mid-Year Adoption

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) announced on 30 January that its HÜRKÜŞ-B trainer aircraft has successfully completed its first test flight. Following this initial flight, an extensive test programme that includes 90 flight hours of planned sorties will ensure engine, avionics, stability and flight regime characteristics will meet the requirements of the Turkish armed forces, which are due to adopt the aircraft into service by the middle of 2018.

HÜRKÜŞ-B, which is being built in what the company describes as, “a more comprehensive and stable way,” has been designed specifically for the Turkish armed forces, as opposed to the HÜRKÜŞ-A, which was built for civil aviation applications. “HÜRKUŞ-B is 100kg lighter, faster, more modern and stronger than HÜRKUŞ-A. This version has a more stable and comprehensive design,” commented Dr. Temel Kotil, President and CEO of TAI.

Emphasising its belief that HÜRKÜŞ-B is the best in its class, TAI points out that the entire cockpit, including all systems such as the ejection seat and oxygen support have been designed as a jet cockpit from the outset and that the weight resistance of the landing gears will give student pilots a more realistic approximation of a jet aircraft.

Tim Mahon