Country of origin:

Canada

Description:

Light utility aircraft

Power Plant:

One 235 kw (315 hp) Lycoming IO-580-B1A six-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

Found Brothers Aviation Ltd was formed in 1946 to build a light utility aircraft known as the FBA-1 for bush operators in Canada from the Mackenzie River up to the Arctic coast, the aircraft and to be able to operate on wheels, skis or floats and be able to withstand the rugged environment of north America. Refinement of the design led to the FBA-2 and this model received United States and Canadian certification in 1964.

Production in the late 1960s led to the FBA-2C, and the Company produced a model known as the Centennial Model 100. However, the Company closed its doors in 1967. Subsequently the FBA-2C developed a reputation, like the de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, as a safe, rugged and reliable aircraft. One aircraft in particular logged 59,000 flight cycles over 17 years of operation on floats and skis, and had 11 engines installed.

Found Aircraft Development Inc was formed in 1996 and acquired the rights to the design, developing an improved model known as the FBA-2C1 Bush Hawk XP. For this aircraft in 1997 Transport Canada reinstated the Type Certificate, this new model being certified in March 1999, production taking place in central Ontario at the Sound Area Municipal Airport.

The FBA-2C3, also known as the Expedition E-350, was an uprated development of the earlier model. It was a rugged utility corrosion-proofed, high-wing monoplane, with seating for five, with four doors, a fixed tricycle undercarriage and a 235 kw (315 hp) Lycoming IO-580 engine driving a 2.08 m (82 in) Hartzell three-blade constant-speed propeller. The aircraft was available with a glass cockpit and autopilot, and was available with wheels, skis, floats, Seaplane Aerocet 3600L non-amphibious or Aerocet 3400 amphibious floats.

In later times the Company became known as Expedition Aircraft and in 2007 at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture event at Oshkosh in Wisconsin, USA, it announced two new models, the E-350 and the E-350XC, the latter being described as the next generation of the Bush Hawk XP. The E-350 was the tricycle undercarriage variant whereas the E-350XC could be fitted with Aerocet 3400/3500 or Wipline 3450 floats, the wheeled variant being aimed at a larger market for utility aircraft.

The Model E-350 was first flown on 3 October 2006 and was certified in 2007. The new models had a 15 cm (6 in) wider fuselage, four doors and four seats, although a fifth was optional. Standard power plant was the Lycoming IO-580 but diesel fuel alternatives were evaluated. Useful load with full fuel tanks was 436 kg (962 lbs).

Although there have been rumours of an example being imported to this region over the years, particularly for tourist operations in Fiji, the first imported was an FBA-2C3 Expedition which became VH-NEF (c/n 309) on 24 October 2012 to Mr A McClymont of Richmond, QLD. A further example, an FBA-2C1 was imported in late 2015, becoming VH-OOB (c/n 57) registered to its owner Mr S Buckle of Kew, VIC.

In November 2016 Pacific Aerospace of Hamilton, New Zealand, designer and builder of the 750XL utility aircraft, announced it had acquired the rights to the design of the E-350 from Found Aircraft, that it would build the aircraft with a 242 kw (325 hp) Lycoming IO-580 engine which would provide a range of 1,389 km (863 miles) with a full load of passengers and baggage, the first New Zealand-built aircraft was expected to be completed by the middle of 2018.  First New Zealand-built aircraft registered on 12 February 2019 became ZK-EXP, the construction number (314) continuing on from the Canadian production line.  Since then further examples have been completed.

The E-350 was marketed as a competitor to the Cessna 206 but only small numbers were built before the Found Company was wound up in 2014. Chief Executive of Pacific Aerospace stated the E-350 could potentially be built at the company’s Chinese joint-venture company Beijing Pan Pacific Aerospace Technology at its 10 hectare manufacturing facility in Changzhou which opened in October 2016; and that once the aircraft was established in China there would be an option to assemble the aircraft at Changzhou.

In early 2018 an FBA-2C3 Expedition N883MX (c/n 307) arrived containerised at Hamilton, NZ. This aircraft was an amphibian and was assembled at Hamilton before being flown to Ardmore on 5 May 2018. In June 2018 the aircraft was completed and shipped to the United States, the first New Zealand-built aircraft being completed in late 2019.