Islander insight
Britten-Norman (BN) opened its hangar doors at Solent Airport, Hampshire, in December 2021, to give journalists, aviation enthusiasts and local residents an insight into the company’s work, as well as an update on its operations.
The ongoing pandemic has slowed production of BN’s newbuild airframes in Romania, with the company having begun to buy second-hand examples to overhaul, refurbish and offer for sale.
This strategy has led to the firm buying the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) complement of nine ex-Army Air Corps Defender R2/T3s.
Known internally as the BN-2T- 4S, the lengthened, Rolls-Royce 250-powered examples will be civilianised and offered for sale.
As well as being more than 4ft longer than the baseline Islander, it benefits from a 20kt faster cruise speed, an additional 250nm of range and an increased maximum take-off mass. Unsurprisingly, there has been significant interest in the type since BN confirmed it had bought back the nine aircraft last year.
Scott Hume, the manufacturer’s depth maintenance manager, detailed work being undertaken on an Armed Forces of Malta BN-2T, AS9819 (c/n 2156). The Maltese Islander arrived on September 7, to receive a major upgrade, including a Garmin G600TXi glass cockpit, with the GTN 650Xi and GTN 750Xi navigation, communication and global positioning system suites. The aircraft will also be installed with the latest addition to the Garmin avionics suite – the GI275 electronic flight instrument (a multi-function display).