LOPRESTI AIRCRAFT IS to licence-manufacture the General Avia F.22 two-seat light aircraft in the USA for sale in North America.
Vero Beach, Florida-based LoPresti has taken delivery of two Italian-built aircraft, which it will assemble and display at the Oshkosh show in late July.
The company will market the fixed-gear F.22B and retractable-gear F.22C in the USA, Canada and Mexico, says founder Roy LoPresti.
The F.22 is a product of famed Italian designer Stelio Frati, who created the SF.260. The F.22B has a 120kW (160hp) Textron Lycoming engine and a 140kt (260km/h) top speed, while the F.22C has a 135kW Lycoming and a 178kt maximum, LoPresti says.
LoPresti is looking for financing to establish a factory to build the all-metal, US-certificated, F.22. Milan-based General Avia was originally a design house, but was acquired in 1992 by an Italian-German industrial group and set up to produce the F.22. Deliveries began in 1994.
Source: Flight International
