Aermacchi Fighter Trainer Logs Maiden Flight

Alenia Aermacchi’s first pre-production M-346 lead-in fighter trainer made its official maiden flight on July 7 with Aermacchi chief test pilot Olinto Cecconello at the controls. The jet, painted in “Finmeccanica red” in a nod to Alenia Aermacchi’s parent company, had made three previous flights, all occurring the week before the first official public flight pictured here. Alenia Aermacchi has made numerous changes to the design and recently launched a marketing partnership with Boeing aimed at raising the airplane’s profile as an export candidate in Asia and the Middle East.