19 April 2012
Aero at Friedrichshafen, Germany, has previewed a number of new aircraft, although the UK market will be seeing only a few of them in the near future. While it was announced that ongoing funding for the completion of the VisionJet from Cirrus that stole the headlines, there were also plenty of other aircraft to see.
Tecnam, which was recently named as the largest producer of Light Sport Aircraft in the world, showed a complete example of its eagerly-awaited four-seater Twenty Ten alongside a total of 13 other aircraft including the P2006T and P92 taildragger. Diamond also boasted a strong presence premiering the DA52, its new twin-engine aircraft designed to carry up to seven people, alongside a strong product range.
Also turning heads was the striking Panthera from Pipstrel, a sleek yet-to-fly four-seater with a number of interesting interior design features including a three-dimensional toggle-style trim control. However, it’s the predicted performance figures that really turned heads, with 200kt cruise over 1,000nm burning less than 10 gallons an hour with all seats filled.
There was also good news from Flight Design with its CTLS gaining its EASA Restricted Type Certification (RTC), alongside Czech Sport Aircraft’s SportCruiser.
Elsewhere at the show there were a number of other eye-catching aircraft, including several flying boats, a couple of crop-spraying gyrocopters and some single-seat SSDR types, although how many of them will find their way onto the UK market is up for discussion. <a href=”http://www.aero-expo.com”>Click here for more</a>
