Published in Midwest Flyer – August/September 2018 issue
It has been known for some time that the Windecker Aircraft’s research and development facility in Mooresville, North Carolina, was working on a “clean sheet” aircraft design that synthesizes new and established technologies. Like a number of aircraft companies, Windecker has an engineering and technical skills staff of 25 people who work in a “top secret” environment. After three years of engineering, drawings, and analyzing a wide range of configurations and performance goals, the company has developed enough tooling to manufacture parts for a prototype. It is anticipated that the prototype will fly in mid-2019, that it will be a Part 23 certified aircraft, and it will set new standards as the largest and most capable single-engine aircraft in its class. The new design which was called for by the company’s owner, Hang Wei, a Chinese businessman, is under the direction of aerodynamicist John Roncz.