On this day in aviation history, 61 years ago (August 12, 1965), the Fuji FA-200 Aero Subaru took flight for the first time. The FA-200 is a single-engine general aviation aircraft, developed and built by Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan from 1968 to 1986. Fuji, the successor to the Nakajima Aircraft Company, began work on the FA-200 in 1964. A flying prototype of the Aero Subaru was produced within a year. The FA-200 was of all-metal construction, initially powered by a 160-horsepower Lycoming O-320 engine. Shortly following the aircraft’s first flight, the Aero Subaru headed to production at Fuji’s Utsunomiya factory. The FA-200 had seating for four, which earned the aircraft its Normal category type certificate from the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau on March 1, 1966. With a three-seat configuration, the FA-200 could be flown in the Utility category. With two seats, the Aero Subaru could be flown under the Aerobatic category. United States’ type approval was granted by the FAA in September of 1967.
A more powerful FA-200-180 variant of the Aero Subaru was created, powered by a 180-horsepower Lycoming IO-360 engine and constant-speed propeller. This variant of the Aero Subaru could cruise at 104 mph and attain a maximum airspeed of 145 mph. The FA-200-180 would stall at 60 mph, and could climb at 760 feet per minute. Fuji’s Aero Subaru had a decent touring range of 725 nautical miles, at 55% power and 7,500 feet of altitude. Fuji manufactured a total of 275 FA-200 Aero Subarus during the aircraft’s production run. A modest number of FA-200s remain flying today.
