TYPE: Regional jet airliner.

PROGRAMME: Development of Dornier 328 turboprop twin begun in mid-1980s, but then suspended; relaunched 3 August 1988; rolled out 13 October 1991; first flight (D-CHIC) 6 December 1991; first flight of first production 328-100 (D-CITI) 23 January 1993. JAA 25 certification 15 October 1993; FAA certification 10 November 1993; first delivery, to Air Engiadina, 21 October 1993. Production (including three prototypes) totalled 111; final aircraft (OE-LKC) delivered to Air Alps Aviation, Austria, 13 October 1999.
Twin turbofan version announced 5 February 1997 and formally launched at Paris Air Show in June 1997; marketed as 328JET, engineering designation being 328-300; known as 328Jet from 2003. High-speed wind tunnel tests, confirming cruise performance, and ground vibration tests completed by November 1997; prototype D-BJET, converted from second prototype 328 turboprop (D-CATI), rolled out 6 December 1997; first flight 20 January 1998; public debut 4 February 1998; three further prototypes built on the production line; second (D-BWAL) dedicated to performance certification testing, flew 20 May 1998; third (D-BEJR), used for avionics certification, flew 10 July 1998; fourth (D-BALL), used for function and reliability testing and simulated airline operation trials, flew on 15 October 1998; JAA certification was achieved on 8 July 1999 after completion of 1,560 flight hours in 950 sorties; FAA certification 15 July 1999; high gross weight certification achieved April 2000.
First delivery in July 1999 to Skyway Airlines (N351SK); total of 15 delivered in 1999 and 33 in 2000. By June 2001 the in-service fleet of aircraft had logged 100,000 hours, with a 99.23 per cent flight completion rate; high-time aircraft, operated by Hainan Airlines, had then logged nearly 4,000 hours. Production suspended by late 2002, following Fairchild Dornier's bankruptcy.
Programme purchased by AvCraft in January 2003; assets included 18 'white tail' aircraft in complete condition and five on production line; deliveries began on 11 September 2003 with B-3948 to Hainan Airlines; production relaunched in December 2003; 16 'whitetails' sold by late January 2004; roll-out of first new production aircraft expected in fourth quarter 2004; initial target production rate of 18 per year; negotiations under way in early 2004 for manufacture of wing by European supplier.

CURRENT VERSIONS: 328Jet: Regional airliner, as described; 32 passengers at 79 cm (31 in) seat pitch. Engineering designations 328-300 and 328-310.
328Jet SMA: Proposed multirole special missions aircraft for troop transport, VIP missions, surveillance, SAR, AEW and medevac. Under study in 2002.
Freighter: All-cargo version with large door in aft fuselage for loading of containers or palletised freight. No longer being promoted.
Envoy: Business jet and corporate shuttle version, launched at the 1997 National Business Aviation Association in Dallas, Texas; known as Envoy 3 until 2003. Subvariants are Envoy Executive with accommodation for 12 passengers and forward service galley and wardrobe and aft galley and lavatory; Envoy Executive Shuttle accommodating 22 to 32 passengers; and Envoy Convertible for 14 and 18 passengers and with forward galley. Executive standard fuel weight 5,042 kg (11,116 lb); Shuttle and Convertible have standard 328Jet capacity, with option of extra tanks.
Total of 10 Envoy orders by December 2001. Announced customers include Aircraft Jetcharter, which has ordered a Corporate Shuttle variant for operation on behalf of an Ohio-based customer, and Grupo Protexa of Monterey, Mexico, which has ordered one aircraft in executive configuration. Aircraft Completions of Tyler, Texas, is US completions centre.
Dornier 428: Development version; programme suspended on 8 August 2002.

CUSTOMERS: Total of 141 orders and 91 options quoted by early 2002; regular deliveries suspended after February 2002, with only one further aircraft supplied up to 31 December 2002, increasing total to 87. By October 2003, AvCraft had orders and options for 45, of which 13 represented firm sales due for delivery from stock before end of January 2004.

COSTS: Regional airliner US$13 million (2002); Corporate US$13.65 million, outfitted (2000). Airliner direct operating costs estimated at US$3.16 per n mile, based on 32 passengers and 300 n mile sectors.

DESIGN FEATURES: Combines basic TNT supercritical wing of Dornier 228 with new pressurised fuselage from NRT (Neue Rumpf Technologien) programme; internal volume designed to give passengers more seat width than in a Boeing 727 or 737 and stand-up headroom in aisle. Jet retains high commonality with turboprop model; major changes include new pylon/nacelle and centre wing attachments, strengthened landing gear and brakes, APU as standard, and modifications to Honeywell Primus 2000 avionics software, FADEC and environmental control systems.

FLYING CONTROLS: Conventional and manual. Optional lateral control (one) and ground (two) spoilers ahead of each aileron; horn-balanced elevators; trim tab in each elevator and rudder; single-slotted Fowler flaps.

STRUCTURE: Wing mainly light alloy structure; entire rear fuselage and tail surfaces of CFRP, except dorsal fin made of Kevlar/CFRP sandwich and aluminium alloy tailplane leading-edge; Kevlar/CFRP sandwich also used for wing trailing-edge structure, nosecone, tailcone and for long wing/fuselage fairing housing system components outside pressure hull; cabin doors of superplastic formed aluminium alloy; engine nacelles of superplastic formed titanium and carbon composites.
OGMA of Portugal manufactures fuselage shells that are assembled into complete fuselages by risk-sharing partner Aermacchi in Italy, which also manufactures flight deck structure; engine nacelles and doors by Westland Aerostructures; wing fairings by HAIG (Harbin) of China; rear fuselage and tail surfaces assembled by Fairchild Dornier from carbon fibre components; wing produced by Fairchild Dornier in San Antonio, USA; final assembly at Oberpfaffenhofen.

LANDING GEAR: ERAM (with SHL of Israel) retractable tricycle type, with twin Honeywell wheels on each unit; nose unit retracts forward, main units into Kevlar/CFRP sandwich unpressurised fairings on fuselage sides. Main tyres size 24x7.7 (14 ply), nose tyre 19.5x6.75-8 (10 ply) tyre pressures 4.40 bar (64 lb/sq in) on nose unit, 8.00 bar (116 lb/sq in) on main units; alternative 25.5x8.75-10 (14 ply) flotation main tyres; Honeywell brakes.

POWER PLANT: Two 26.9 kN (6,050 lb st) Pratt & Whitney Canada PW 306/9 turbofans with FADEC, pod-mounted under wings. Fuel capacity 4,268 litres (1,128 US gallons; 939 Imp gallons)

ACCOMMODATION: Flight crew of two and cabin attendant. Main cabin seats 32 to 34 passengers, three-abreast at 79 cm (31 in) or 76 cm (30 in) pitch, with single aisle; galley to rear of passengers seats; lavatory at rear of cabin, baggage compartment between passenger cabin and rear pressure bulkhead, with external access via baggage door in port side; crew/passenger airstair door at front on port side, with Type III emergency exit opposite; Type III emergency exit on port side at rear of cabin, with service door Type II exit at rear on starboard side.

SYSTEMS: Air conditioning and pressurisation systems standard (maximum differential 0.47 bar; 6.75 lb/sq in), with GKN Westland ECS. Hydraulic and two independent AC/DC electrical systems housed in main landing gear fairings. Tailcone-mounted Honeywell 36-150 (DD) APU as standard.

AVIONICS: Honeywell Primus 2000 suite.
Comms: Dual Primus II integrated radio system and Mode S transponder standard. HF comms optional.
Radar: Primus 650 weather radar standard; Primus 880 weather radar optional.
Flight: AFCS, AHRS, dual integrated avionics computer, dual digital air data reference unit, TCAS, GPWS with windshear detection system standard. Optional GPS with GPS approach and head-up guidance system allowing Cat.II landings.
Instrumentation: Five-tube EFIS (203 x 178 mm; 8 x 7 in screens) with EICAS.