From here
Yesterday, I have sat in a total of 14 aircraft exhibited at Aero. A few random thoughts and impressions. Note: I am 1,82m, so not really tall.
FlightDesign F2: easy getting in and out. Relatively poor visibility out front. Too low useful load (due to only 650kg MTOW). IFR approval still miles away. Ugly engine cowling. I was disappointed.
Gogetair750. Felt rather comfortable. I quite like the aircraft. The representative wasn’t able to give clear infos of overflight rights in various European countries for the factory-built version.
Cirrus SF50 (cabin mockup): the most amazing and comfortable cabin, seating and visibility of all of them.
Cirrus SR22G7: I find the new “boxy” dash rather unaestetic. Visibility is NOT better than in the previous versions. Otherwise, very comfortable, as ever.
Elixir: tiny aircraft. The seats look uncomfortable, but still, getting in and out was not as difficult as it seemed. Cheap looking panel. It’s a trainer, after all, but definitely not my cup of tea.
Aquila A211: felt ok and mature. Slightly narrow cabin at the shoulders. But the seating position was ok and enough headroom. Visibility forward is not quite as good as I would like.
Tecnam P2006NG: the interior still feels cheap, as in any other Tecnam. Plastic galore. Easy in and out. Not a huge amount of space. Otherwise, a few good improvements.
Tecnam P-Mentor: still unacceptably blocked view forward due to the canopy structure if you are slightly on the tall side.
DA50: Absolutely horrendous seats in the back… very weird “shape” and very hard. The seating in the front seats is more comfortable. Still no sign of increased tank capacity.
PA28-181 Archer DLX: the dash is relatively high on these Archer IIIs. Small front windows. At the shoulder level, the cabin is slightly more narrow than the older PA28s, it seems.
Piper M700 Fury: still a nightmare to get into the front row. Even once you are seated and sitting straight, the cabin roof is right there on the side of your head. Tiny front windows.
TBM960: Of course, with the front door, getting in and out is relatively easy (although not totally trivial. Otherwise, very comfortable and much more roomy than the M700.
Pipistrel Panthera: absolutely a disgrace in terms of forward visibility. Also the canopy hits my head as I am sitting straight. This is both for the front and back seats. Zero prospects of it getting certified any soon. No anti-ice. Fuel tanks too small. The Pipistrel booth is now firmly in the hands of Americans from Textron.
Sling 4 HW (there was just an unfinished one there): really loved the cabin proportions, visibility and more. Sadly, not available as a factory-built or certified aircraft.
The Slings seem to gaining a little bit of a foothold in the US market in a way that no other similar (tricycle geared) Rotax aircraft has been successful in doing. FWIW.
@Bosco, how about the Junkers? Did you have a chance to have closer look?
Arne wrote:
they are on the final stretch towards certification.
Europe really needs to wake up. It’s ASTM (from USA) that’s the new standard for GA, and no certification is needed.
No, I didn‘t get anywhere close to the Junkers.
The textron guy I spoke to mumbled mumbled something about certification next year. As we all know, in non marketing speak, this effectively means „we have no clue when it will happen“.
Speaking of certifications, Bristell still don‘t have the IFR certification. What a joke, after several years saying it was imminent. Instead, they brought the Turbine version and the E-version, so they don‘t have to talk about the shame with the lacking IFR certification (and the unsolved engine problems with the carburetted Rotax 912 engine) so much.
Seeing the issues that Bristell and FligthtDesign are having getting the IFR certification makes the Tecnam effort (with the P-Mentor being approved since 2022) ever so much more remarkable.
Tecnam has considerably more resources it seems.
I haven’t noticed any problems with the blocked view on the P-mentor. Even at 1m92
I found the visibility to be amazing. It might have to do with that i have little low wing experience in the last 14 years since my training.
boscomantico wrote:
Gogetair750. Felt rather comfortable. I quite like the aircraft. The representative wasn’t able to give clear infos of overflight rights in various European countries for the factory-built version.
I’m surprised at that statement, with whom did you speak? At the same time, what did you think about the Turbine version?
I talked to the builder/owner of the homebuilt one that was exhibited. Possibly the wrong person to speak to about this, but it was still disappointing. Anyway, let‘s wait for CS certification, and hope they will see it through.
I was not interested in the turbine version, so I didn‘t even look at it closely.
