Stratos Aircraft (Booth C13305, Static IS_1) reported at NBAA 2017 that its lone flight test Model 714 has logged 80 hours over 44 flights since its first flight in late 2016 and that the company has started construction on a second prototype and has completed the erection of a new 13,000-sq-ft composites facility in Redmond, Oregon. The company plans next for pressurized flights, receiving clearance to operate at FL280, and verifying the 714's 400-knot cruise capability. Through summer the aircraft had attained altitudes of 18,000 feet and speeds up to 250 knots indicated, or 330 ktas.

The lone flight-test aircraft has been fitted with a complete interior that was designed and installed by Stratos, save for the seat structures that were provided by Millennium Aircraft. In fact, 90 percent of the aircraft was fabricated by Stratos, including the trailing link landing gear that was fit-prototyped using additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing).

Currently, the 714 is flying with Garmin 3X avionics, but the company said the final decision on an avionics suite is still years off. The cockpit features cabled sidestick controls. Additonally, the current test aircraft is fitted with an older-generation Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5 engine, but future plans now call for the production aircraft to carry the newer P&WC 535E engine, the same as that on the Embraer Phenom 300. The need for a 3,000-pount-thrust-class engine to meet the aircraft's mission parameters of Mach 0.70, 1,500-nm range and four 200-pound passengers drove its current configuration.

CEO Michael Lemaire said the company continues to focus on raising the bulk of the estimated $200 million required to finish certification and that, while interest in the aircraft has increased substantially since first flight last year, the company is three to four years away from taking deposits. Stratos also has not ruled out offering the aircraft as a kit before it offers it as a certified aircraft.

While Lemaire said it is too early to set a price, it should be in the range of or less than those of other high-performance single-turboprop aircraft such as the Daher TBM 930, noted Stratos prototype project manager John Hadlich. He said the company currently has sufficient funding in hand to build a second aircraft and is continuing ongoing development efforts.