Role Utility aircraft
Manufacturer Dornier GmbH
RUAG
General Atomics
Built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
First flight 28 March 1981
Introduction July 1982
Status Active service
Primary users Indian Air Force
Indian Coast Guard
Indian Navy Netherlands Kustwacht
Produced Dornier: 1982–1997
HAL: 1985–present
RUAG: 2010–2020
General Atomics: 2021-Present
Number built Dornier: 245 HAL: 125.
Developed from Dornier Do 28
In 2009, RUAG started building a Dornier 228 New Generation in Germany. The fuselage, wings and tail unit are manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Kanpur, India, and transported to Oberpfaffenhofen, where RUAG Aviation carries out aircraft final assembly. The Dornier 228NG use same airframe with improved technologies and performances, such as a new five-blade propeller, glass cockpit and longer range. The first delivery was made in September 2010 to a Japanese operator. In 2020, RUAG sold the Dornier 228 program to General Atomics.
In the late 1970s, Dornier GmbH developed a new kind of wing, the TNT (Tragflügel neuer Technologie – Aerofoil new technology), subsidized by the German Government. Dornier tested it on a modified Do 28D-2 Skyservant and with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-110 turboprop engines. Finally, Dornier changed the engine and tested the new aircraft, which was named Dornier 128 with two Garrett AiResearch TPE-331-5 engines. The company developed a new fuselage for the TNT and TPE 331–5 in two variants (15- and 19-passenger) and named both project-aircraft E-1 (later Dornier 228-100) and E-2 (later Dornier 228-200). At the ILA Berlin Air Show in 1980, Dornier presented the new aircraft to the public. Both of the prototypes were flown on 28 March 1981 and 9 May 1981 for the first time.
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More than 350 design changes are present between the Dornier 228 and the re-launched Dornier 228 NG. Amongst the principal changes is the adoption of Universal's UNS-1 glass cockpit, which means that standard aircraft are equipped to be flown under single-pilot instrument flight rules (IFR) in addition to visual flight rules (VFR); according to RUAG Aviation,
The Dornier 228 has been promoted in various capacities, including as a commuter aircraft, a military transporter, cargo hauler,
In late 2017, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued a type certificate to the HAL 228.