Robin DR500

The Robin DR500 Président is a wooden low-wing monoplane made by Robin Aircraft and marketed as a top-of-the-range DR400. It has a tricycle undercarriage and a 4+1 seating layout, and is powered by a 200 hp fuel-injected Lycoming driving a Hartzell variable-pitch propeller. The idea began in the 1980s as the DR.400 NGL, Nouvelle Génération Large, and was revived in the late 1990s by the company's new owners, taking its name from the HR.100/250TR Président of 1974. It is formally an extension of the DR400 type certificate. Compared with the DR400 it has a larger engine cowling and bubble canopy like that of the R3000 or X4, a cabin 40 cm longer and 10 cm wider at the shoulders, leather seats and electrically operated flaps and trim. The prototype F-WZZY first flew on 29 May 1997, and 18 were built in 1999 and 9 in 2000.