Aircraft
Indonesia’s N219 Flies for First Time
The N219 program still lacks funding for certification, but has achieved a major milestone.
The N219 has received Indonesian type certification. (Photo: National Institute of Aeronautics and Space)
The N219 has received Indonesian type certification. (Photo: National Institute of Aeronautics and Space)

Indonesia’s N219 turboprop achieved its first flight on Wednesday, just ahead of the country’s 72nd Independence Day. The N219, designed and built by state-owned company PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), took off from the Bandung Husein Sastranegara International Airport at around 9:30 a.m. local time and flew a little under 30 minutes. The achievement marks Indonesia’s first indigenous aircraft development since the ill-fated IPTN N250, advancement of which fizzled after several hundred hours of flight testing under the weight of the Asian financial meltdown in the late 1990s. Indonesia produces the NC212 Aviocar and CN-235 under license from Spain’s CASA.