Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1505694
52 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2023 Wow. That's quite a commitment for one product to come to market. Is this a niche market that you're filling or are there already players in this space? Sundin: Well, it's niche in the sense that we're targeting the owner-operator, but it's still a pretty large market. Do you see electric aircraft coming into play and into your design, as well? Sundin: In time, but the battery technology is just not there yet for a high-performance air- cra. I think we're decades out still. Are you designing any of your own electronics? Sundin: Electronics is a fairly small part of this aircra design, and any time there's a proven vendor part out there that works, we gravitate toward it. But in general, in aircra manufac- turing, there's just not that much off-the-shelf available. For example, I was hoping to find off- the-shelf landing gear, but that just didn't work out. We ended up designing and manufactur- ing our own landing gear. We don't make the to get the first aircra, the 714, flying. Aer the 714, we decided to stretch it to turn it into a true six-seat aircra. at process took another three years, and as part of that process, we went through a weight reduction program. Not only did we increase the cabin volume by about 40%; we also reduced 400 pounds of weight. Weight is everything in aircra design. at's like two people! You must go through a lot of regulatory hurdles. Talk a little bit about that challenge. Sundin: ey say that by the time the aircra is certified, the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the aircra. I think that's prob- ably true. We still have a long way to go. Basi- cally, what we've done today is designed and tested—both structurally and in flight—these two aircra. We have hundreds of flying hours on them and thousands of hours in develop- ment, manufacturing, and testing. We still have a long way to go with certification. Even companies like Honda, with very deep pockets beginning to end, took about 20 years to cer- tify the aircra.