Italian airframer Tecnam has launched an updated version of its popular P2006T four-seat piston-twin, which it designates the NG.
Tecnam introduced the new design, along with a sleek NG Sport configuration, at this year’s Aero Friedrichshafen general aviation show on 17 April. It is aiming to achieve European certification by year-end.
Powered by two Rotax 912SC3 four-stroke 100hp (75kW) engines, the NG sports an additional door on the starboard side for co-pilot access, and external access to the luggage compartment. It comes outfitted with a Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite, and the cockpit interior has also been re-imagined to include a centre console that houses the flight-management system keyboard.
“After feedback from the market we implemented more than 300 minor and major changes to the airframe under the metal to improve aircraft reliability,” Giovanni Pascale Langer, Tecnam managing director tells FlightGlobal.
The NG’s maximum speed is 148kt (274km/h), a whole 3kt higher than the previous variant, and it has a range of 930nm (1,722km) – down on the P2006T’s figure of 1,100nm – and its useful load rises to 410kg (904lb), up from 370kg previously.
With the new Rotax engines, the company says it was able to reduce the aircraft’s CO2 emissions by about 70%.
“We were able to get much better fuel economy in cruise, so we can go down to about 11 litres per hour per side. So that makes the P2006 the most cost-efficient aircraft that a flight training organization can operate.”
The “super-premium” NG Sport features additional design touches such as a leather and alcantara interior and a metallic silver livery.
For the moment, the firm is focusing on selling to European operators, and “a couple of flight schools” have signed letters of intent to acquire the new aircraft, Langer says. Certificating the airframe in the USA will have a longer time horizon.
“US certification is probably a two-year journey, we don’t want to commit to something not knowing the validation timeline,” he says.
The company will continue to produce first-generation P2006Ts, of which it has alreadt built about 400.
The launch comes hot on the heels of last month’s European certification of the short take off and landing (STOL) variant of the twin-engined P2012 commuter aircraft.
Tecnam developed the P2012 STOL to serve airports with short runways and operational constraints. The certification campaign lasted 18 months, and production aircraft are now in the final stages of assembly.
“Since many years the STOL market has been dominated by just a few OEMs,” Langer says. “It’s a big achievement because what we’re certifying today is completely different from what was certified many years ago.
”The level of safety that you find on an aircraft that is certified and validated today cannot be compared to what was done in the past.”
Tecnam so far has 10 orders for the P2012 STOL, and Langer says the company expects to announce more deals this week as many operators had waited for the certification to be completed.
With the new models launching, the company’s hangar space in Capua near Naples in southern Italy is at a premium, and Tecnam is in the process of building a new hangar to accommodate an increased production rate. Langer says the facility, encompassing 16,000sq m (172,223sq ft) will be ready by the end of the year.
“We are expanding our capabilities, and building new hangars to improve our production rates. Right now we’re doing the impossible in order to produce with the space that we have available.”
