In 1986, Aero Mercantil, a longtime dealer for Piper Aircraft in Guaymaral, Colombia, started the development of a single engine utility and passenger aircraft. Thus, the Gavilán was born, an all-metal high-wing box-shaped aircraft, with room for one pilot and seven passengers. In the end, only eleven of these aircraft were built, msn 007 was used by the Colombian air force as FAC5062. It was built around 2000 and retired by April 2008.