Tecnam launched the US sales campaign for the P2010 at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture fly-in, taking 10% deposits on the $345,000 aircraft.
A type certification approval expected from the US Federal Aviation Administration now seems a routine event for the P2010. After all, Tecnam has already delivered 25 of the four-seat, high-winged single-pistons in Europe under a European Aviation Safety Agency.
But the FAA’s approval could actually be semi-historic. According to Tecnam US sales director Shannon Yeager’s research, the P2010 will be the first clean-sheet, high-winged aircraft certificated under Part 23 of the Federal Aviation Regulations in 48 years, when the Cessna 177 Cardinal was first approved.
Other high-winged general aviation aircraft have appeared during the last half-century, but the P2010 could become the first to make it through the Part 23 certification process, Yeager says.
Tecnam has high hopes for the P2010 in the North American market. The stiffness provided by the composite fuselage allows for a wider cabin.
“It has realistic room for realistic humans of the US variety,” Yeager jokes.
Yeager flew a production model of the P2010 to AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, averaging 134kt cruise speed while burning fuel at a rate of 11gal/h.
Tecnam plans to assemble P2010s delivered to US customers at a new factory in Sebring, Florida, but in the near-term can still ramp up deliveries by leveraging an already active production line in Italy.
“We can immediately divert production slots to the US,” he says.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
