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Old 29th October 2009 | 11:27
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Genghis the Engineer
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The Shorts Tucano is substantially re-engineered from the original Embraer Super Tucano - but it's absolutely true about hand-building. Airframe length can vary by something like 200mm between airframes and cockpit height by perhaps 100mm.

Handling qualities are occasionally somewhat variable between aircraft - at one point it was found that about one airframe in 10 would roll inverted if you stalled them in the landing configuration. Arguably an undesirable characteristic in a training aeroplane.

That said, this is true to some extent of most aeroplanes - carlike mass production rarely applies in the aircraft industry where aeroplanes are made in the tens to hundreds per years, not the tens of thousands.

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