Known for their several lucrative wins at the NASA Challenge events, Pipistrel also logged market successes in the USA and around the world during 2012. The manufacturer with a range from weight shift trikes to electric-powered gliders to Light-Sport Aircraft to their four-seat Panther in development has become a company to watch. At the end of the year, the Slovenian company with a production facility in Italy had plenty to discuss.
Most notably, the company built their 500th aircraft from the Sinus/Virus family. These sleek machines include the Sinus (“Seen-Us”) motorglider, the Virus (“Veer-Us”) lightplane and shorter-winged version called the Virus SW. The company proudly announced, “Together with the other models and the powered-hang gliders, this means we have made well over one thousand flying devices!” Aircraft number 500 buyer was Charles Dalglish from Australia. The aircraft was handed over to distributor Michael Coates whose organization includes U.S. sales.This year Coates recorded his 100th delivery.
Pipistrel’s Twin Taurus… Could They Win Again?
Question: What looks like two motorgliders flying in really tight formation sharing an engine… er, a motor, literally between them? Can this Burt Rutan-looking aircraft (photo) win the big dough? And I mean seriously big money with a purse of $1,650,000! *** Called the Pipistrel Taurus G4, the prize-seeking aircraft rolled out of the Pipistrel factory in Slovenia for the first time recently. After posing briefly for the camera, G4 taxied away quietly under electric power for the start of the flight testing program. *** Pipistrel previously won a big NASA check with their Virus SW but the company has now taken a wholly different approach, based on rules which give seat-mile advantage to four seater models. *** “This aircraft is the first four-place electric aircraft to be flown in the world,” stated Pipistrel. Their Taurus Electro claimed to be the first two-place electric aircraft to be flown in the world four years earlier.
Triple Play: Pipistrel Wins SLSA Approvals
After a pause in new SLSA, Pipistrel burst onto the scene with multiple approvals, three at once reports Michael Coates, the importer for Pipistrel USA. We raced to get these placed on the SLSA List because it’s news, but also because FAA uses this list to verify new models before assigning them N-numbers. FAA Registration Branch checks to make sure company names and other info matches incoming applications; we had three calls last week from producers who requested minor changes to our SLSA List after the agency raised questions. *** Now that list swells to 118 models. Pipistrel, which makes long-winged models that soar well, got the Virus approved in both airplane and glider categories, no small achievement. They also gained approval for their Taurus motorglider. The Slovenian company — with production facilities in nearby Italy (partly an effort to adhere to the U.S. government’s bilateral agreement requirement… dull, yes, but important legally) — has been in the news for their electric airplanes and has announced a supersleek four seater, the Panthera.
PhoEnix: “E” as in Electric
Scoop time!
I’ve been having so much fun lately writing the electric flight article (now rescheduled to Aug. issue of Plane & Pilot) that it’s bringing electrifying news from the universe to my email inbox.
Jim Lee, that hard working, happy-flying distributor for the Phoenix motorglider I was gobsmacked with at Sebring, told me today about the PhoEnix all-electric version of the Rotax-powered motorglider that is selling like hotcakes here and abroad.
Here’s some of what he had to say: “Reporting from the Czech Republic where I am spending 2 weeks assisting in the production of our new electric PhoEnix. The weather has been great… soaring 5.5 hours in the last two days… I see that your blog has sort of turned into an electric blog lately, so that gave me the idea to report to you first on our electric project. Orders for the Rotax Phoenix are pouring in, so we had better stop flying and start working.”
Oh, for that challenge: to fly, or handle orders for your aircraft!
Two New Categories Gain Approved LSA
Among new LSA approvals, some sneak by my observation post. Two new entrants make an interesting couple. One is our first-ever glider approval; the other is a new “Sport Pilot eligible” aircraft but not an SLSA. Curious? *** LSA Gliders of Wisconsin won a SLSA airworthiness certificate for the first glider meeting ASTM standards. They import the TST-14 Bonus, a lovely long-winged, self-launch motorglider of interest to soaring enthusiasts. The all-composite tandem two-seater can be a pure glider or take a boost from a Rotax 503; either way it claims a 40:1 glide angle. “It can be registered as a SLSA Glider or an experimental,” says importer Steve Meassick. *** Taking another tack is American Champion (ACA), whose 7EC is not a SLSA but a Standard Category production aimed at use by Sport Pilots or licensed pilots exercising those privileges (no medical needed). The maker of the Citabria (in which I logged my first 35 hours) to Super Decathlon now offers “The Champ” for $85,900 in basic form without flaps.