The MCR Twin-R has done its maiden flight on Thursday 03 March 2011 at 17h00, with Christian Briand at the controls, former test pilot at SOCATA. The 06 March 2011, the demonstrator had already clocked 10 hours of flight with Christian Briand and Philippe Duclos former Mirage 2000 pilot.
This first flight allowed checking the good working order of the engines, especially the temperatures, the uniformity of the flight controls and the behaviour at low speeds. This is in compliance with the initial flight tests schedule that includes 15 hours of flight. The first findings allow to be optimistic with regard to reaching the goals.
Particularly, the engine failure tests were able to be carried out soon in the schedule thanks to the efficiency of the flight controls on the 3 axis and especially in yaw. The rudder is designed with a double hinge, brought from the R180 which had inaugurated this innovation for glider towing purpose. On the Twin-R, this solution allows for a low VMCA in one engine configuration, VMCA being very close to stall speed.
The demonstrator is for a kit built aircraft series, an initial series of 5 models is currently being manufactured. In parallel, a type certificated version is developed for the training and patrol market.
