Stinger,
Yes, and it's obviously preferable to wring out the bugs now, but it's remarkable how many journos I talked to re: the testing incident were unwilling to be seen as 'stirring up trouble' by reporting on the incident, lest they miss out on getting into the left seat. The fact that the aircraft recovered to a Finmeccanica owned airport added to the mystery. Still, more telemetry for the engineers to review!
609 A/C 3 is near completion, and A/C 4, which is the first production baseline, has started its build
A/C 3 & 4 have been in build since
2004, with A/C 3 "ready" since
2006...
I/C