Kestrel Partners With Composite Company

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Kestrel Aircraft Partners With TenCate Advanced Composites

Kestrel Aircraft has partnered with TenCate Advanced Composites, a leading supplier of advanced thermoset and thermoplastic composite materials. Mike Bremner, Kestrel representative, reported recently that Kestrel selected carbon fiber prepreg materials based on TenCate’s TC275-1 epoxy resin system to fabricate the primary structure of the aircraft.

Alan Klapmeier, CEO of Kestrel Aircraft and co-founder of Cirrus Aircraft, commented, “I have worked closely with TenCate in past years and have been impressed with their strong customer focus and strategic growth over the past two decades. We are pleased to entrust them with supplying consistently high quality prepreg materials for the K-350”.

Watch the Kestrel in flight in this company provided video.

According to Kestrel spokesman Bremner, the use of composite materials is essential to enable the Kestrel design engineering team to optimize the aerodynamic shape of the Kestrel K-350 single engine turboprop aircraft. The product provides significant improvements in speed and weight compared to traditional aluminum construction.

“TenCate Advanced Composites’ technical depth and unique understanding of the general aviation industry makes them a great choice to partner with Kestrel on this versatile and efficient, K-350, single engine turboprop aircraft design,” added Klapmeier.

Joe Morris, President TCAC North America states, “TenCate is pleased to be the composite supplier to Kestrel Aircraft. This LTA represents the continuation of a long term successful relationship we have had with the Kestrel management team. We look forward to first flight and certification.”

About Kestrel Aircraft

Kestrel Aircraft is a new aviation company led by aviation entrepreneur, Alan Klapmeier, best known for introducing new standards of safety and ease of operation to general aviation. The Kestrel airplane will be a six to eight-seat, all composite, single-engine turboprop. The company asserts their aircraft will offer a broad performance envelope, and the newest technologies available in personal and business aircraft.

Kestrell has been headquartered in Superior, Wisconsin since 2012, where engineers and support staff work on aircraft design and certification. Kestrel also has a plant located in Brunswick, Maine, established in 2011, that specializes in engineering and production.

Flying is a Family Affair for the Klapmeier’s

Alan Klapmeier and his younger brother Dale, founded Cirrus Aircraft Corporation in 1984, on their parent’s rural Baraboo, Wisconsin dairy farm, and built their first plane in a barn. The plane featured a whole-plane parachute recovery system, a first among aircraft manufactures.

The first Cirrus plane flew in 1988, and the company relocated to Duluth, Minnesota in 1994. Alan left Cirrus in 2009 in order to form Kestrel Aircraft. His brother Dale remains at Cirrus serving as the company’s CEO. The Klapmeiers were recognized by TIME magazine in 2007 as “giving lift to the small-plane industry with an easy-to-fly design.” In 2014 the brothers were jointly inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

About TenCate Advanced Composites

TenCate Advanced Composites is a leading manufacturer of thermoset and thermoplastic composites materials serving the aircraft, satellite and industrial markets. TenCate Advanced Composites has facilities in Europe and North America. TenCate Advanced Composites is a division of Royal Ten Cate.

Royal Ten Cate (TenCate) is a multi-national company that combines textile technology with related chemical processes and material technology in the development and production of functional materials with distinctive characteristics. Products of TenCate are sold worldwide. Systems and materials from TenCate come under four areas of application: safety & protection, space & aerospace, infrastructure & the environment, and sport & recreation. TenCate occupies leading positions in protective fabrics, composites for space and aerospace, anti-ballistics, geosynthetics and synthetic turf. TenCate is listed on the NYSE Euronext (AMX).

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