Why not? So long as it’s the certified VLA version? Certainly can in Sweden.
I don’t think you can use a p92 for ppl flight training in the UK can anyone confirm?
Valerio
thanks for your post. Very interesting details.
I knew of Prof Pascale from the times of the Partenavia Twin, the likeliness between it and the Tecnam Twin is certainly no accident. I had the chance of flying one briefly during an airshow a few years back and found it tight but quite nice to fly. It is certainly a quite unique “light twin” and as you say exactly what many schools were and are looking for.
A friend here owns a P2002JF and loves it. I’d have to say, 17 liters Mogas per hour and 120 kts does make sense, it is however a little short on payload.
The P2010 looks quite interesting too for clubs and others who are actually thinking Cessna 172 but would love to fly Rotax due to the Mogas option, apart from the pricing which seems to be cheaper.
We will see how Tecnam fare. They have grown quite a bit (have not found any sales figures from them, but I’d expect them to have sold considerably in the time frame) so they do have a base for continuation, if they halfways do it right.
Best regards
Urs
Alexis,
That was me!
Yes, me too. When I restarted my flying in 2009 and discovered how the prices had collapsed, I all of a sudden found that I could now afford a 150 kt Mooney when I had been looking for a Cherokee 140 or the likes. What an opportunity! And I did buy it from someone who replaced it with a brand new SR22. So one more reason to be happy about Cirrus, without it he would have probably kept my plane 
I think one more important factor in the fluctuations of sales is the inertia of the existing fleet: aircraft age slowly, and the market for new ones may not pick up until used ones are taken out of operation. This was exactly the case with 19-seat turboprops like Twin Otter, Do228, L410, etc. – production nearly stopped for a number of years until the natural attrition brought the existing fleet below a certain threshold, and then new series of all the three were released almost simultaneously.
Valerio – thanks for that post, very interesting. I guess time will tell.
The Italian promotion of genius and family business is a wonderful cultural asset that I’ve never seen successfully combined with professional management. One side always wins and the product eventually either disappears completely or loses its original appeal. The trick for me is to buy the Italian companies product from the top of its game, preferably a few years after it was made when its become unfashionable. I have one Italian motorcycle that’s worth perhaps five times what I paid for it twenty years ago, and it wasn’t cheap then. Maybe I’ll sell it and buy a Tecnam after the US LSA category crashes 
I own a Tecnam P92 (beside my SR22 TN) and I visited the Tecnam factory in Naples when I bought it last year. Tecnam made their fortune in the 90’s when Professor Pascale started to produce the P92 under ultralight category (450kg MTOW) and the Italian government agreed to close an eye on the real weights of the P92. From that moment Italy became one of the largest “false-ultralight” markets in the World (more than 10000 ULM are flying today in Italy, against less than 2000 GA) all benefiting from the Italian government “flexibility” on real weights (the rule is just to have a rotax engine in the front). In the meanwhile Tecnam enjoyed the first mover advantage and produced around 2000 P92, which makes it the most produced and tested “ultralight” (i.e. rotax-using) plane in history.
Prof.Pascale played smart a second time and got VLA certification for the P92 (and its evolution, the P2008), so that it could be used in EU PPL schools and became the only GA plane to use the Rotax engine (only engine certified to be used with alcool-containing mogas, i.e. car gasoline). Only the Diamond Katana also used the rotax engine, but was underpowered and didn’t have much success.
The third smart move of Prof.Pascale was the creation of the P2006T, to answer the needs of EU commercial flying schools (CPL/ATPL) who understood how the D42 had a false economy when came the time (TBR) to replace the diesel engines (Rotax engines cost 1/3 of Thielert or Austro Engines).
Now Prof.Pascale is quite aged and the son is taking over as CEO…I don’t see a bright future for Tecnam once Prof.Pascale will be gone: Tecnam is losing market-share both on the domestic ultralight market (they have bad customer-care and comparatively slow planes) and on the VLA market (where the SportCruiser is now preferred because of the ballistic parachute). The new generation simply lacks the genius and the innovation power of the old founder: typical Italian SME story, where the new generation prefers to sink the father’s company rather selling or hiring external management…
If they could somehow get a small diesel in there, de-icing and maybe even pressurisation, increase the MTOW and range, they would have a killer product. Just unbeatable at that price.
Have you sat in one? I found it the cabin to be extremely crammed and the build quality substandard. Lots of cheap plastics and very un-Italian ugliness.
I checked the FAA register recently in regards to the Tecnam P2006T for a post in another thread. Think I counted 13 on the US register, which is a lot less than I’d expected. After all it’s cheaper to buy new than a Cessna 182, on par to service and overhaul. In my mind it’s a no brainer, but one has to remember that the US aviation market is about as conservative as the Spanish Inquisition. They haven’t heard about Tecnam much and the brand has no recognition. Also, for liability purposes, I think all parts get shipped in, which might scare some buyers. But in Europe, where Tecnam is more known, they’ve sold well. Must be closer to 200 now, which is a success by any standards. As the reputation grows, I’m sure they’ll eventually sell more of them in the US.
If they could somehow get a small diesel in there, de-icing and maybe even pressurisation, increase the MTOW and range, they would have a killer product. Just unbeatable at that price.
I think where Tecnam might be unusual with respect to most non-GAMA manufacturers is that they make a significant volume of aircraft.
What are the benefits to joining any industry association? Political visibility, lobbying and pooled resources for a little advertising.
