Dimensions include a running length of 81 feet, a wingspan of 95.9 feet and a height of 29 feet. Empty weight is 30,200lb while the Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) reaches 48,050lb. Power is from 2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) PW127J series turboprop engines offering up to 2,750 horsepower each. Maximum speed can reach 320 miles per hour with cruising done closer to 270mph. Range is nearly 1,000 miles and the aircraft's service ceiling is listed at 25,000 feet.
A first-flight in prototype form of the MA60 was recorded on February 25th, 2000 and production began that same year. Type certification was achieved in June of 2000 but the aircraft has only been certified to fly in Western airspaces like that of Europe or the United States.
By 2006, the series had achieved nearly 100 ordered aircraft and, today (2018), over 310 are still on the books for manufacture with various operators around the globe. This list includes Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, the Democratic Republic of the Bolivia, Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Republic of the Congo, Tajikistan, Tonga, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. China is the largest operator of the series with twenty-four examples in service and a further twenty-nine awaiting manufacture and delivery. Some operators utilize the multi-role aircraft at the military level as is the case with Bolivia, Cambodia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Laos, and Zambia.
The MA60 includes the MA60-100, MA60-MPA, the MA50, MA60H-500 and the aforementioned MA600 (detailed elsewhere on this site). The MA60-100 has seen a reduction in operating weight to better perform while the MA60-MPA "Fearless Albatross" is a proposed military-minded maritime patroller form. The MA40 has seating for about forty passengers and the MA60H-500 is a militarized transport model complete with rear-fitted loading/unloading cargo door.
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