Approved Under New CS-23 Amendment 5 Rules

EASA has granted CS-23 certification to Elixir Aircraft for its 100 hp VFR aircraft. The certification was awarded March 20 under the new Amendment 5 rules, which reflects the highest level of safety currently possible.

In announcing the achievement, Elixir Aircraft CEO Arthur Léopold-Léger said that it came while the production team is on short-term leave and sales and support employees are working remotely. "Although it is hard to rejoice when our entire planet is fighting an invisible enemy, we should look back to fully appreciate how far we have come since our first certification meeting with the team of european agency in charge of the certification (EASA) on 24 January 2017, only 3 years ago," Léopold-Léger said.

"The Elixir, to our knowledge, is the only modern light aircraft in the world designed from a blank sheet of paper to have obtained its certification following the latest amendment of the most rigorous category: CS-23, and doing this with safety objectives regularly exceeding the certification objectives.

"The Elixir is also the only aircraft on the market to bring together so many innovations, equipment and performance.

"On a personal note, I would therefore like to congratulate all of those who made this possible: the members of Elixir Aircraft, the close advisers and consultants of course, but also the EASA team, our investors, our customers, our banks, our design and production subcontractors, the administrations, and of course our families, whose support and encouragement are irreplaceable. Bravo and thank you."

Léopold-Léger said that the production of the first 4 aircraft has recently started. Work on the future Elixir Aircraft plant at La Rochelle airport began in December 2019. The completion of the facilities dedicated to the production and assembly of the Elixir was initially scheduled for the end of May 2020.

"We are now entering a new phase of the adventure: production and delivery. For the past 10 days, we have been contacting our customers one by one in order to announce the news personally, before broadcasting it out to the public, as well as presenting the provisional flight program," he said. "Indeed, as soon as it is possible, each one of our future customers will be invited to spend a day at Elixir Aircraft. The program of the day will be the following:

• Half a day devoted to a detailed presentation of the Elixir: flight manual, performance, instrument panel, innovations, maintenance, airworthiness monitoring, and more.
• Half a day devoted to flights on the Elixir allowing to discover its key features and assets: maneuverability, exceptional stall safety, performance, and more, all this while discovering or rediscovering our wonderful region from the sky.

Demonstration flights will be opened to new prospects soon afterwards.

(Image from Elixir Aircraft news release)

FMI:  elixir-aircraft.com/en