The single-engine, six-seat turboprop known as the Kestrel (www.kestrel.aero) soon will have a new prototype. England’s Farnborough Aircraft, which has been flying a version of the Kestrel in the United Kingdom since 2006, enlisted Cirrus Aircraft cofounder Alan Klapmeier in October 2009 to establish a company in the United States—Kestrel Aircraft Co., in Brunswick Landing, Maine—and build an improved iteration of its plane. The aircraft will have upgraded cockpit avionics, more luxurious cabin amenities, larger windows, and top speeds equal to those of a very light jet. The Kestrel company, which is not yet taking orders for the plane, expects to begin making its first deliveries in three years. The projected price for the plane is $2 million to $3 million.
