De Havilland Canada intends this year to bring its avionics-updated Short C-23 Sherpa on a demonstration roadshow to gauge interest in rebooting production of the turboprop transport.
The Calgary company will bring the aircraft to the CANSEC defence and security trade show this May in Ottawa. De Havilland has had its Sherpa there before.
After the show, it plans to fly the Sherpa across the Atlantic to visit potential European buyers, De Havilland vice-president of corporate affairs Neil Sweeney tells FlightGlobal. The aircraft has been updated with Garmin 1000 avionics.
“We anticipate taking it on the road into Europe for market tests in the spring and summer,” Sweeney adds. “We are going to determine whether the market has interest in it… We have to listen to what the customers say.”
De Havilland revealed several years ago it is considering restarting production of the venerable multi-role military transport aircraft, with Sweeney saying last June that Sherpas fill a niche between Twin Otters and larger Airbus C295 transports.
The company owns a C-23B+ – the Sherpa military transport based on the Short 360 civilian transport. The smaller C-23A and C-23B Sherpas are based on the Short 330, that family’s original variant, which made its first flight in 1974.
Viking Air acquired rights to the aircraft in 2019. Longview Aviation Capital, which owns Viking and De Havilland, has since merged both divisions under the De Havilland brand.
“The Sherpa is a rugged, reliable [short take-off and landing] aircraft that has stood the test of time and… can serve multiple roles including cargo or passenger transport, paratroop and other humanitarian missions,” De Havilland marketing materials say.
De Havilland’s C23B+ Sherpa has twin Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprops, 3,302kg (7,280lb) of payload, cruises at 196kt (363km/h) and has 650nm (1,204km) of range when carrying 2,268kg of payload, according to De Havilland.
The company has likewise considered in recent years restarting production of Dash 8 passenger turboprops, also acquired in 2019 from Bombardier. The company halted assembly in 2022 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
