ATR 72 Prototype Makes Its First Flight

• ATR's milestones page records the ATR 72 first flight from the Toulouse facility on 27 October 1988^[1]
• The stretched programme had been announced on 15 January 1986, raising capacity from 48 to up to 78 seats while sharing the majority of subsystems with the ATR 42^[3][5]
• French DGAC certification followed on 25 September 1989, less than a year after first flight, and the US FAA certified the ATR 72 on 15 November 1989^[2]
• In August 1988, two months before the first flight, Texas Air had ordered 50 ATRs and Trans World Express received the 100th ATR aircraft^[1]
• Simple Flying marked 27 October 2021 as 33 years since the first flight and notes ATR has built more than 1,200 ATR 72s^[5]

Notable features

• Variant: ATR 72-200, 66 seats at 31 in pitch, two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW124B turboprops, 2,160 shp take-off power (2,400 shp on one engine)^[4]
• Length 27.166 m, wing span 27.05 m, wing area 61 m2; maximum take-off weight 21,500 kg (22,000 kg option), maximum payload 7,000 kg^[4]
• Take-off distance 1,409 m (4,623 ft) at maximum take-off weight, sea level, ISA; maximum cruise 278 KTAS; range with maximum passengers 862 NM^[4]
• 300 NM block fuel 807 kg in 84 minutes^[4]