Bentonville, Arkansas – Aircraft manufacturer Game Composites has received its Production Certificate from the FAA for the GB1 Gamebird.
According to company officials, this marks the first time in 23 years a Production Certificate has been awarded to a general aviation manufacturer.
The Production Certificate marks the last of many milestones for Game Composites in the journey to a production plane, from its beginning as a clean sheet aircraft design, over the long certification and testing period, to establishing a production and build a team, company officials noted.
Game Composites CEO Philipp Steinbach, also the chief designer of the GB1 Gamebird, said the production certificate clears the way for the company to produce and deliver certified aircraft to customers worldwide.
“From our humble beginnings in a rented shack in Europe six years ago, I am proud of what we have achieved as a team, and the appreciation we all receive from our customers, as well as the regulators involved in this program,” Steinbach said.
The process of taking an aircraft through to production is a long and rigorous one, Steinbach added, saying the Production Certificate marks one of the company’s final hurdles.
“Another important milestone was the Type Certificate, defining the airplane in all its technical details,” he said.
The first production model of the GB1 Gamebird went into the world in November 2018, and since then, six more GB1 Gamebirds have been completed and delivered to their owners.
Produced from the ground up in Bentonville, the GB1 Gamebird’s capability to compete in the highest levels of aerobatic competition and airshows, when coupled with its versatility as a trainer and traveling machine, makes the aircraft unique in its category as a general aviation machine, officials said.
The GB1 has a roll rate of 400° per second, and can handle a maximum load factor of +/- 10 G.
The GB1 can achieve cruise speeds of over 200 kts with a range of more 1,000 nautical miles. A flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Bentonville was performed in just over five hours, and several flights from Bentonville to Denver in under three hours, company officials report.
Game Composites has 19 GB1 Gamebirds on order, and produces around one plane a month. Steinbach said he expects the company to be producing as many as two planes a month by the end of 2019.
A GA News article form May 5th 2006 (in this publication) indicates that Liberty received a production certificate…this article on GameBird claims this is “first time in 23 years a Production Certificate has been awarded to a general aviation manufacturer. Which is true??