50 GA200 aircraft have been manufactured at GippsAero's base at the Latrobe Valley Airport, 28 of which have been exported to countries throughout the world including New Zealand, China, the United States, Canada, South Africa and Brazil.
The design has been optimised for maximum strength-to-weight ratio by using “state of the art” finite element computer analysis methods.
An initial conservative retirement life of 15,000 hours for critical structural components has been granted by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
All components are corrosion proofed in special workshops prior to assembly in GippsAeros main hangars one, two and three.
At a hopper payload of 1050 kg the ground roll has been measured at approximately 420 metres (1380 ft) with zero wind and 15 degrees Celsius at sea level.
Full flap (38 degrees) allows a landing approach speed of approximately 50-55 knots at light weight.
The wing flaps can also be used in flight in agricultural operations and significantly reduce turn radius when the aircraft is fully loaded.
This has been achieved by the incorporation of a simple interconnect system which applies bias to the elevator trim springs when the flap are extended.
Their shape has evolved over a number of years of “in the field” testing to provide the best possible swath width without compromising aircraft performance, and maintaining small, controlled wingtip vortices.
A second seat for transporting the loader driver or to allow aerial viewing by the farmer has been a long requested design feature.