Liberty Aerospace continues work on its model with higher gross weight and toe brakes called the Vanguard.
It was announced last April and helps flight schools load two 200-pound people aboard while standardizing training fleets with aircraft that have only toe brakes. Earlier models of the Liberty have finger-operated brakes.
The two-place Vanguard XL-2 has a gross weight of 1,750 pounds, compared to earlier models of the aircraft that had a gross weight of slightly more than 1,650 pounds.
Liberty officials also said the plant built in China, to build Liberty aircraft that will be operated only in that country, has produced its first two aircraft. Taxi tests were in progress when China grounded the aircraft until after the Olympics and requested that the engines be removed. The request was made as a security move for the Olympics.
Officials said there were teething problems with the new Aspen avionics offered in the Liberty Aerospace aircraft. They would overheat, damaging the capacity of the internal battery, but that problem seems to have been corrected based on recent flights.
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