Palmana Bhanandhi could not hold back tears as the first prototype of N-219 landed at Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday, after flying for about 30 minutes in a successful maiden flight.

Palmana, the engineering chief of the 19-seater commuter airplane, was among the hundreds of state-owned PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) engineers, technicians and employees who watched the moment from the company’s fixed wing hangar with joy.

A similar moment of excitement happened only 22 years ago when the company, which at that time was named IPTN, produced the historic N-250 aircraft.

Conducted by PT DI’s pilot Capt. Esther Gayatri Saleh and Capt. Adi Budi Atmoko as the first officer, the N-219 flight test also came as a gift for this year’s Independence Day.

The two-engine turboprop N-219 aircraft has short take-off and landing capabilities that are suitable for serving passengers in remote areas, providing hope for better connectivity across the archipelagic country. For the avionic system, PT DI chose a Garmin G-1000 with a flight management system containing a global positioning system (GPS), autopilot system and a terrain awareness and warning system.

It was indeed a victory for PT DI employees and those of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN), which also played a part in the project that took about 5,800 man hours to complete, involving at least 100 engineers from different backgrounds and hundreds of other workers.

“None of them were foreigners,” said Budi Sampurno, who leads PT DI’s N219 program.

The bankruptcy decision slapped on the company in 2007 failed to bury the dreams of the engineers to produce the N-219 aircraft under a program, which was started in 2006.

The 1997 financial crisis forced the company to carry out a major restructuring program and cancel its plans to commercially produce N-219’s predecessor, the N-250. Under the country’s fourth president, Abdurrahman Wahid, IPTN was reborn as Dirgantara Indonesia in 2000.

“We were at our lowest point in 2007, but the engineers were still determined to create a new product to connect remote areas across the country,” PT DI president director Budi Santoso said.

Following the success on Wednesday, PT DI has targeted to start production of the N219 in 2018 and plans to produce 12 units of the aircraft a year.

“The peak will be 24 units per year,” said Budi Santoso, adding that for the production of the first 12 units of the N-219 no investment was needed.

However, to enter the production stage, the aircraft had to undergo fatigue testing, flight test development and flight test certification. “We still need Rp 200 billion more before entering the production stage,” Budi Santoso added.

The Transportation Ministry’s air transportation director general, Agus Santoso, said the government was very hopeful the N-219 could be produced soon and used to connect remote areas and regions that did not have long runways.

“We happily welcome this successful first flight. Hopefully the next stages will run smoothly so that it can get the COA (certificate of airworthiness) next year and can also be marketed domestically and abroad,” he said.

The N-219 plane can also be modified into an amphibian aircraft version to serve potential markets in the archipelagic country. However, its development will need at least two
years to complete, said Budi Sampurno.

“This first flight could be a revival after the N-250,” LAPAN head Thomas Djamaluddin said.

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